Coda di Volpe 2022

Producer: Fontanavecchia
Region: Campania
Grape: 100% Coda di Volpe
Wine Type: Still White
Alcohol: 12.5%
Format: 750ml
Aging: Steel Tank

Snappy, salty, stone-fruited joy. It starts with aromas of tangy peach and lemon with a whiff of salty seaside air. Then it's fresh and vibrant in your mouth, with flavors of just-ripe stone fruit (peach, apricot), lemon drops, crisp apple and loads of salty, mouthwatering, minerality. And while there's enough acidity here to balance pair perfectly with shellfish and all kinds of seafood, it's round and smooth enough at the end for very happy solo sipping, too.

The very old and - until recently - quite rare Coda di Volpe grape from Campania, Italy. It's been grown here for millennia and is also known as Falerno because it's thought to have been the basis for Rome's most famous wine (also known as Falernum).  It's a gangly, strung-out, grape bunch with a long "foxes tail" at the end. Left to its own devices, it gives a soft, round, wine that's often used to mellow more tart and biting Fiano and Falanghina. But when grown on volcanic soils, kept to lower yields, and picked just right, it can deliver the same kind of salty, minerally, zest we love in wines like Muscadet and Albarino. Delicious stuff!