Fiano

Fiano is one of the great white grapes of southern Italy and probably an ancient one — it is usually identified with the Vitis apiana of Roman writers, named because the sweet ripe berries attracted bees.

It was close to extinct by the 1940s, reduced to a handful of hectares in Campania, and its recovery was driven largely by one producer, Antonio Mastroberardino, who replanted it along with Greco and Aglianico in the hills of Irpinia.

Fiano di Avellino, from the volcanic and clay soils east of Naples at 400 metres and above, is the benchmark. The wine is medium to full bodied with a distinctive combination of aromas: hazelnut, honey, pear and yellow apple, with a smoky, waxy note and a faint herbal edge. It is not a loud wine — the character is textural and slow to reveal itself.

Its great virtue is ageing. Most southern Italian whites are made to be drunk within a year; Fiano develops for five to ten, gaining a nutty, honeyed depth while its acidity holds. Young bottles can seem closed and are often opened too early.

There is a significant second home in Puglia, where the warmer climate gives a rounder, more overtly fruity wine, and small plantings in Sicily, Australia and Argentina.

It is one of the varieties that has done most to change the perception that southern Italy makes only simple, hot-climate whites, and it belongs on a short list of Italian whites genuinely worth cellaring.