Reale -Hail Amalfi! — E & R Wine Shop

Azienda Agricola Reale

ancient vines
towering between
Amalfi and Vesuvio

new wines just arrived!

The spring winds are blowing in wines from Italy’s South! Years and years ago we started a collaboration with Reale, after visiting their mountaintop winery, vineyard, and osteria in the mountains. Each year we anxiously look forward to new wines from this singular terrain.

Reale is located in Tramonti in the Lattari mountains, which you can reach by driving up tightly winding roads from the Amalfi coast peninsula. It is a drastically different place than the tourist destination below, a land where many of the inhabitants are small-scale farmers, using the tradition of pergola vines to maximize their planting space for other crops. This land has been smothered by volcanic deposits from nearby Mount Vesuvius over many centuries. The ash that covers the ground is thick and spongy and maintains moisture during the springtime and summertime, typically a time of no rain for months in the Amalfi Coast. Without this ashy deposit, the terrain would be inhospitable for grapes or for any of the family gardens or lemon trees also dotting the hills.

This area has a long history of viticulture dating back to the Greek days. Farmers maximized their growing space with the pergolata terraces so that they can grow vegetables under the pergolas. Reale grows the red grape varieties piedirosso, tintore di Tramonti, and the white varieties biancazita, biancolella, and pepella. All of these grape varieties are indigenous to Campania. Tintore di Tramonti finds its home only in the small mountainous peninsula near Sorrento and Amalfi, scattered on pergola trellises in the hills. It’s a high-acid, darkly hued red grape. The name means to tint darker, and it is a treasure of this area. Piedirosso is here sometimes called Per ‘e’ palummo in the local vinous dialect. This means the leg of the pigeon, which are red! The stems of this variety are stained red like a pigeon’s. You may recognize this variety from other inland and other coastal varieties of Campania. It is well-loved and it loves to be grown by the sea. The same sea-faring sentiment is true for the three white grape varieties, biancazita, biancolella, and pepella. Biancazita is a local Neopolitan dialect for falanghina. The Reale brothers tell us that some of their white wine cuttings come originally from the nearby island of Ischia. Reale is a living grape archeology realm. To have these grapes at all is a treasure, but to have hundred-plus year old versions of these vines is a straight spicy delicious channel to the past.

gaetano under the pergola — these vines are enormous and one vine spreads around 400 square feet!

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Reale Aliseo Bianco Costa d'Amalfi Bio 2022
Aliseo is Reale’s white wine, named for a wind that strikes the Tramonti range. Winds calming, the first sip evokes a pillowy, calm atmosphere. Made from biancolella, biancazita, and pepella from 70-120 year old ungrafted vineyards. Biancazita is a colloquial name for falanghina, a grape widely grown in Campania. Pepella is a variety native to Amalfi coast that has very small berries. Biancolella is a variety grown in Campania and Lazio — this particular strain actually comes from the nearby island of Ischia. This wine gets about a day of skin contact and is pressed into small acacia barrels. This wine is lifted and powerfully aromatic — lime curd, salty flashes of flintiness, and the stern dryness of wines from this volcanic terrain — asks for you to drink it alongside fish & fried capers, or simply on its own for refreshment as deep as a mountain wind. $25.50

Reale Cardamone Rosso Costa d'Amalfi 2021
Cardamone is the big bold beauty from the oldest vines (planted no-one knows when but certainly 100 years ago or more). It is comprised of 80% Tintore, a black and very thick-skinned grape native to Tramonti, and 20% Piedirosso (in this area called Per E Palummo), which is grown in other areas of Campania. Unlike prior vintages of this wine, Luigi and Gaetano wanted a lighter, more immediately approachable style. They experimented in this vintage with carbonic maceration, giving the wine some spritely pep that highlights the volcanic terroir even more. The difference in tannin is like a child who got scolded for their bad mouth and found the right words. The ones they meant all along. Make no mistake, the wine is still rather tannic and intense, still salty, still smoky, still good with smoked meat. $25.50

Reale Getis Rosato Costa d'Amalfi Bio 2022
The Getis Rosato is a favorite at E&R, made from indigenous, also centenary vines of per’e’palumno and tintore. These are thick-skinned varieties that when made with a light touch create a delicately perfumed rosé: the tintore is vinified as a white wine then blended with the per’e’palumno which undergoes a 12 hour maceration. Cherry blossom and tart tangerine interact on the palate with that indescribable texture that volcanic soils impart. Like Bandol but with a stonier heart. Getis is made from grapes in Tramonti's vineyards of Cardamone, Vigna Diana (1929), Vigna Tirro (1950).A previous vintage (this was just released and is lovely) of Getis was selected by the Italian Sommelier Association as the Best Rosato in Italy. (a pretty serious group who publish a 1600 page wine guide annually) - they would know. $25.50

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