Winemaker Notes
Straw yellow. Aromas including hints of pear, pineapple, acacia, hazelnuts, and citrus fruits, with some hawthorn and floral notes. Balanced acidity and soft on the palate, with white peach and grapefruit leading to dried fruits.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Mastroberardino 2023 Fiano di Avellino Radici is a tight and tonic white wine with a lean texture and bright flavors of citrus and honeydew melon. All of that is backed by a distinct vein of minerality. Fruit comes from the Tenuta Santo Stefano del Sole, a place with full southwestern exposures.
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Vinous
The 2023 Fiano di Avellino Radici mixes savory and sweet, as shavings of ginger and dried flowers combine with nuances of confectionary spice and candied citrus. It is pure in style, with a salty mineral core and white pit fruits that swirl throughout. The 2023 finishes long and wonderfully refreshing, leaving a saline tinge and a hint of green apple.
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Wine Spectator
A lithe, supple white, with a racy streak of salinity underscoring layers of ripe pear, plum skin and blanched almond, plus spring blossom and herb notes. Bright, citrusy acidity makes a clean sweep on the mouthwatering finish. Drink now through 2028. 5,000 cases made, 800 cases imported.
Fiano is an aromatic, white variety fully suited to the Apennine Mountains of Campania and has been documented in the region since the 13th century. It is at its best in the hills of Avellino where volcanic soils give it a charismatic aromatic lift and support a range of styles from taut and steely to nutty and smooth. Somm Secret—If you like Chardonnay, Viognier or Pinot Blanc, Fiano would be a great new wine to try!
A winemaking renaissance is underfoot in Campania as more and more small, artisan and family-run wineries redefine their style with vineyard improvements and cellar upgrades. The region boasts a cool Mediterranean climate with extreme coastal, as well as high elevation mountain terroirs. It is cooler than one might expect in Campania; the region usually sees some of the last harvest dates in Italy.
Just south of Mount Vesuvio, the volcanic and sandy soils create aromatic and fresh reds based on Piedirosso and whites, made from Coda di Volpe and Falanghina. Both reds and whites go by the name, Lacryma Christi, meaning the "tears of Christ." South of Mount Vesuvio, along the Amalfi Coast, the white varieties of Falanghina and Biancolella make fresh, flirty, mineral-driven whites, and the red Piedirosso and Sciasinoso vines, which cling to steeply terraced coastlines, make snappy and ripe red wines.
Farther inland, as hills become mountains, the limestone soil of Irpinia supports the whites Fiano di Avellino, Falanghina and Greco di Tufo as well as the most-respected red of the south, Aglianico. Here the best and most age-worthy examples come from Taurasi.
Farther north and inland near the city of Benevento, the Taburno region also produces Aglianico of note—called Aglianico del Taburno—on alluvial soils. While not boasting the same heft as Taurasi, these are also reliable components of any cellar.