Wine, at its best, is both a teleporter and a time machine. The right glass can whisk you away to distant locales visited long ago (or never), to historical moments remembered or imagined by the yearning, eternal soul inside each of your tastebuds.
This is why we drink wine. That, and because it’s a tasty refreshing beverage that makes you feel cute and forget about work for a couple of hours.
I’ll admit that I wasn’t transported quite yet, sipping frizzante in a strip center in Plano while the cerulean coves of Amalfi flickered tantalizingly on a hi-def TV. The event was “Wines of Puglia & Campania” at Corner Wines. I was here on a last-minute impulse. I’d jumped on a same-day email invitation–the same way a jet-setter might grab their swimsuit and passport at the news of an open berth on a friend-of-a-friend’s yacht.
The tasting was led by Aldo Bove of Above Wines. Bove is a native Pompeiian living in Dallas who is an expert on viticulture and oenology and a specialist in the wines of Southern Italy. It was with obvious pride that he presented the region’s approachable–yet often unfamiliar–native grapes and styles. In a group of about 20, we nibbled charcuterie and tasted the wines: Three casual summer sippers and one “serious” red from Italy’s ankle and heel.
Italy’s Sorrentine peninsula is–and has been for thousands of years–a resort region. Bove referred to Pompeii as “the Las Vegas of ancient Rome.” The love of leisure is reflected in the Amalfi coast’s cheerful and uncomplicated wines. There are seascapes and sunsets on the labels. They are early-drinking, fresh, low or moderate in alcohol, and best when chilled.
As anyone who uses tasting apps like Vivino can attest, most of the user-submitted tasting notes on coastal “vacation wines” are worthless. They always say something like “Drank this bottle after limoncello with Rob & Jen in Sorrento. Great views! 5 stars!!” and nothing about the attributes of the wine itself. We may pretend that it’s possible to separate a wine’s quality from the context of drinking it–but these types of reviews prove the opposite.
So, how do these coastal wines hit when you’re not bobbing around on a boat or vamping on a terrazza? I readied my glass to find out.
The first wine was Cantine La Mura Pompeiano Falanghina Frizzante ($24). (Prices are regular retail–Corner Wines was offering 10% off bottles at the tasting.) This was my first ever Pompeiian wine and is made from 100% Falanghina grown on volcanic soils.
Frizzante from Campania is semi-sparkling and tends to have low-ish alcohol and a touch of sweetness. The one we tasted was made using a variation of the Asti method (chilling the wine to halt fermentation and filtering out the yeast). Unfiltered, “pet-nat”-style versions also exist, which finish fermenting in the bottle and exhibit cloudiness from yeast sediments. The most important white grapes are the historic Campanian varieties of Falanghina, Fiano, and Greco.
The Falanghina Frizzante was a clear and pale yellow with green-ish glints. Fruity aromas of apple and green pear with orange/lemon peel and a nutty hint of raw almond or hazelnut. The bubbles are light and the finish is off-dry with refreshing acidity. Sensible level of alcohol at 10.5%. A really enjoyable wine to chill (and chill with).
Next up was the CalaRosa rosé ($34) from 100% Nero di Troia. Intense salmon-hued with aromas of fresh strawberry and rose hips. A sprinkle of cinnamon and dried savory herbs. It’s quite dry with sour cherry, sour red plum, and a lingering spicy finish.
CalaRosa has little more body and bite to it than the Provence style of rosé that we all know and tolerate. It’s fresh and crisp and an eye-catching shade of pink. It’s not especially distinctive–but imagine it with sun on your face and wind in your hair. Could you really find it in your heart to complain?
I accepted another pour of rosé, and sipped it as I peered once again at the Bay of Naples across from my seat. It seemed to be getting closer.
The third wine was the most divisive among the Corner Wine crowd: A carbonically macerated frizzante red from the traditional Campanian varieties Aglianico and Piedirosso.
The Cantine Federiciane Monteleone Gragnano Penisola Sorrentina ($30) was far less substantial than its pendulous name would suggest. A grape-soda wine, most comparable to sparkling Lambrusco. It’s brilliant purple with soapy foam and grape bubble-gum aromas. Strawberry hard candy, blueberry jam, soft shy tannins. On the palate it’s lightly fizzy and far less sweet than it smells. A little bit of earthiness and spice is all that’s there to remind you that it’s made from Aglianico.
Bove vigorously defended this Gragnano against the raised eyebrows of the tasting group. No other style is as evocative of summer in Napoli, and this “pizza wine” is accessible to drinkers of all ages and tastes. Try it with ice or frozen fruit in the glass, he urged. Bust it out at a party and you’ll go through an entire case!
Truthfully, as a Texan, most of my experience with fizzy reds is as a topper for frozen margaritas. (Brusco-ritas!) However, I don’t want to judge this wine too harshly. If I had a proper Neapolitan pizza in front of me, I’d give it another go.
The final pour was a dry red, the “Dodiciventuno” from Borgo Turrito ($45). It’s 100% Nero di Troia aged 12 months in barrique barrels. (This same ancient grape–and producer–as the CalaRosa rosé, but in its final-boss form.)
This wine was full of intriguing contrasts. Deep and dark in color, it offers elegant florals (rose, geranium, violet), followed by full-fruited flavors of red cherry and blackberry, ending on coffee grounds, balsamic tartness, and some oaky spices.
Nero di Troia is sometimes looked at as the “third grape” of Puglia–behind Primitivo and Negroamaro. But “Dodiciventuno” makes a case that it can stand up as a sophisticated and pleasurable single-varietal wine. (As a drinker who tends to gravitate toward the most assertive styles, I liked this intense red the best–along with the bright and aromatic Falanghina Frizzante.)
I had a great time falling deeper in love with the wines of Southern Italy! In terms of formality, this tasting was somewhere between a happy hour and an educational seminar.
Our guide was a degreed oenologist who brought a wealth of wine science to the tasting experience. Some Q&A time helped us to understand why the wine tastes the way it does and how the structural components relate to each other. At the same time–it’s just fizz, folks. The youthfulness and simplicity of Wednesday’s tasting lineup was a timely reminder not to take all this stuff too seriously.
As a student, I’m overwhelmed by the number of Italian grapes. (Around 900 commercial varieties according to this class–not counting the table grapes!)
Often the best way to learn them is to just drink them. And then drink them again, until you remember what they look and taste like. (As if my head wasn’t already spinning: On my way out the door, Corner Wines’s somm Craig blinded me on a stumper, a Chenin Blanc/Viognier blend from Capetown, South Africa).
Corner Wines has evening wine parties all the time, including fun regional tastings like this one. The best way to find out about them is to get on their email list because the website is not always updated with the current events. They are also organizing a guided tour of the Amalfi coast in 2025–in case you want to travel there for real and not just via wine and screensaver. (Contact the store for details.)
Where: Corner Wines, 4017 Preston Rd #535, Plano, TX 75093
How much: $25 + tax and tip
Wines Tasted:
Cantine La Mura Pompeiano Falanghina Frizzante Campania (NV)
Borgo Turrito CalaRosa Nero di Troia Rose Puglia (2023)
Cantine Federiciane Monteleone Gragnano Penisola Sorrentina (NV)
Borgo Turrito Dodiciventuno “1221” Nero Di Troia Puglia (2020)
Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.
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