Summary
Feudi di San Gregorio in Sorbo Serpico is the internationally best-known winery in Campania and, since the 1990s, one of the most important driving forces behind the turn to quality in southern Italian winegrowing. On around 300 hectares in Irpinia – spread across more than 800 individually recorded parcels – wines are made exclusively from local varieties: powerful, long-lived reds from Aglianico as well as mineral, surprisingly age-worthy whites from Fiano, Greco and Falanghina. The cellar opened in 2004 by Japanese architect Hikaru Mori has turned the estate into a landmark on top of that.
History
The founding of Feudi di San Gregorio in 1986 was also a response to a catastrophe: six years earlier a severe earthquake had devastated Irpinia and further depopulated a mountain region that was already structurally weak. The Capaldo and Ercolino families founded the winery explicitly as a contribution to the rebuilding – convinced that the region's old grape varieties were Campania's greatest untapped asset.
In the 1990s the estate became the engine of a veritable wine revolution in the south of Italy. Feudi was among the first producers to market Fiano di Avellino and Greco di Tufo as serious, site-driven white wines instead of selling them as anonymous bulk goods. Between 2001 and 2004 the new cellar was built to plans by Hikaru Mori, which brought the winery international attention beyond the wine world as well.
In 2009 Antonio Capaldo, son of co-founder Pellegrino Capaldo, took over the leadership of the house; in the same year Pierpaolo Sirch from Friuli, connected with the business since 2003, was given responsibility for all areas of production. Under this dual leadership the range was sharpened, work on individual parcels deepened, and the FeudiStudi project launched a series of micro-cuvées from single vineyards. In parallel, the Tenute Capaldo group grew with estates in Basilicata, Puglia, Bolgheri, Friuli and on Etna.
Location & Terroir
Irpinia is the opposite of the cliché of hot southern Italy. The estate headquarters in Sorbo Serpico lies at around 500 metres of altitude, and the vineyards are spread across hill and mountain sites in the Campanian Apennines. The winters are hard and wet, the summers warm, but the nights cool – the wide day-night differences are the key to the pronounced acidity and the aromatic spectrum for which the region's wines are known.
Geologically, Irpinia is strongly volcanic in character; alongside that there are limestone and clay soils. This diversity in a small area is the reason the estate consistently divides its holdings into small parcels and ages them separately: altitude, exposure and slope gradient produce clearly different wines from vineyard to vineyard. The vines often sit embedded among woods, old olive groves and meadows – a cultivated landscape unusually varied for Italy's intensive viticulture.
Style & Philosophy
The estate's fundamental decision is its concentration on indigenous varieties. Aglianico, the late-ripening, tannic red variety of Irpinia, yields wines here with dark fruit, sturdy structure and great ageing potential; Fiano and Greco deliver white wines with a core, texture and a longevity that Italian whites were long not credited with.
In the cellar the team works parcel by parcel and with restraint: separate vinification, moderate extraction for the Aglianico, differentiated use of wood depending on the wine. With the whites, the balance between fruit, salinity and structure is what counts. Sustainability is no accessory here – the company is certified as a B Corp and to Equalitas, operates as a Società Benefit and has set itself the goal of climate neutrality by 2030.
Notable Sites & Wines
The range is clearly tiered, from approachable estate wines to the single-vineyard icons:
- Serpico – single-variety Aglianico from ungrafted vines over a hundred years old in the municipality of Taurasi; the flagship red of the estate
- Taurasi Riserva Piano di Montevergine – single-vineyard Taurasi with long barrel ageing and great ageing potential
- Taurasi DOCG – the classic estate Taurasi from Aglianico
- Rubrato – Irpinia Aglianico, the approachable and affordable entry into the house style
- Pietracalda – Fiano di Avellino from a site immediately next to the cellar
- FeudiStudi – micro-cuvées from single vineyards, each bottled in very small quantities
Added to these are the entry-level wines from Fiano di Avellino, Greco di Tufo and Falanghina, which earned the estate its international profile.
Awards
Feudi di San Gregorio has been among the most frequently awarded producers in southern Italy for decades. The Serpico and the Taurasi Riserva Piano di Montevergine have collected Tre Bicchieri from Gambero Rosso across many vintages, alongside regular top scores from the international trade press. The estate is a founding member of the Comitato Grandi Cru d'Italia, the association of leading Italian wineries. Beyond the scores alone, Feudi is regarded above all as the winery that put Irpinia and its grape varieties on the world map.