Giuseppe Lavorgna did not simply make wine in the Sannio — he recovered a grape variety, established its name (Camaiola), and proved what it was capable of. On the marl-clay hills of the Telesina Valley, his estate produces a range of wines from the Sannio's most distinctive indigenous varieties: Camaiola in its finest expressions, Coda di Volpe, Agostina in sparkling and passito form. Juwelen of Italian enology — as the estate itself describes them — combining modernity and ancient tradition at the height of the Apennines. The 48-month Metodo Classico from the Agostina grape is alone worth the discovery. Indigenous. Rare. Celebrated. Available through UniqueWines.
Request a quoteIn the Sannio — at the height of the Apennines in Campania, on the fertile marl-clay hills of the Telesina Valley wedged between Monte Acero and Monte Erbano — the Lavorgna family has built one of the most singular wine estates in southern Italy. Giuseppe Lavorgna is a scholar of native wines, and it is to him that the world owes the recovery and formal establishment of the name Camaiola: first at the CNR (Italy's National Research Council) and then through the establishment of the DOC. Production here is characterised by sustainability, full recycling, and the fusion of modernity and ancient tradition into what the estate itself describes as true jewels of Italian enology.
The Camaiola — misnamed Barbera del Sannio for generations — is an exclusive grape of the Sannio, in the highest elevation of Campania. Giuseppe Lavorgna has brought it to its maximum olfactory-gustatory expression through a truly original method. The grape produces wines of intense ruby red colour with clear violet reflections — explosions of scent moving from fresh flowers (rose, violet, geranium) through ripe and crunchy red fruit (plum, blood orange, currant) to underwood fruits, with hints of vegetable notes. On the palate: full, intense, soft, slightly tannic, with a rich fruity finish and soft well-integrated tannins of pleasing persistence.
GROTTA DI FUTA is the estate's standard Camaiola expression — the grape in its most immediately engaging form, with a sensory profile of striking freshness and completeness. CIMALUNA takes the Camaiola further: delicious and crunchy fruit with hints of caramel, chocolate, and liquorice, juicy acidity and velvety tannins that place it firmly among the estate's most celebrated wines. Both wines are ideal for rich first courses, red meats, braised preparations and game, as well as semi-processed cheeses.
NOVE LUNE is the estate's white expression — a wine of fresh and genuine character, elegant sapidity, originality, and brilliance, designed to complement seafood and lighter preparations with the same seriousness the Camaiola brings to richer dishes.
The estate also produces wines from two further varieties of note. The CODA DI VOLPE — from Campania's ancient and distinctive Coda di Volpe grape — offers extraordinary freshness and typical minerality, with an intense straw yellow colour and a bouquet of white flowers, citrus, pear, and hints of hazelnut and herbs. The palate is fresh and savoury, with a pleasant structure and persistence recalling the mineral notes and slight smokiness of the volcanic terroir.
Most distinguished of all is the estate's METODO CLASSICO — a 48-month sparkling wine from a grape called Agostina (named after its standard harvest time), described as an exclusive of this winery and celebrated by Luciano Pignataro, Italy's most prominent wine journalist. Very intense and revealing of multiple delicate scents from its rare and very authentic grapes, rich in acidity and with a persistent finale. ERIBIANO, a passito wine from the same Agostina grapes brought to extra maceration, rounds out the portfolio as an ideal meditation wine and companion for sweets and cream-based pastries.
The Lavorgna family's commitment to the recovery, documentation, and maximum expression of indigenous Sannio varieties represents one of the most important contributions to Italian wine culture made in the past generation. Their wines are available through UniqueWines.
