Region: Italy - Campania - Beneventano
Grapes: Falaghina
Alcohol: 11%
Notes on the Wine
An abundant and creamy mousse, on the nose it offers up aromas of delicate flowers, citrus and tropical fruits. Balanced, soft, fresh and dry on the palate with a fine spritz and pleasing crisp acidity.
Notes on the Producer
Just outside of Benevento, at the foot of Mt. Taburno, you will find the small wine growing town of Ponte. It is surrounded by volcanic hillside vineyards dominated by limestone and clay, and the long, warm growing season is tempered by cool Mediterranean breezes. Here, Falanghina develops a distinctive mineral tang to complement its luscious, yet vibrant fruit. This makes it an ideal base for sparkling wine. Hand harvested grapes are gently pressed, and fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks. When the must reaches around 9% ABV, the wine is cooled way down. This puts a pause on fermentation and leaves natural sugars that can still be converted to alcohol. The partially fermented wine is then transferred to an auto-clave. Fermentation starts again until completed at 12.5% ABV, but this time the resulting carbon dioxide is trapped in the wine, giving it a natural sparkle. The wine rests for 6 months before bottling.
Frizzichea is produced by Ocone (“Oh-kone-eh”) a small, family winery situated in the Campania region, outside of Naples, on the rocky foothills of Mount Taburno. Guiseppe Ocone founded the winery in 1910 and began bottling his own wines at a time when most Campania wineries simply sold bulk to the north. In the 1960s, his son Luigi distinguished Ocone from other producers by focusing on the region’s near forgotten indigenous grapes such as Aglianico, Greco and Falanghina. Dedication to organic cultivation of these ancient varieties established Ocone as a world class estate. In 2017, Domenico Ocone sold the winery to Giorgio and Roberta Vergona, a local couple, who with their three children have restarted generational history at Ocone. Their goal is to continue the Ocone family’s legacy by producing wines in a fresh, clean style balanced by tradition. The Ocone wines are approachable, food friendly, and varietally true. They possess great depth of flavor without being excessive and are consistently balanced and structured with complexity and length.
