More about Benito Ferrara

For many people who know Italian whites, Benito Ferrara is the reference point for Greco di Tufo. That's especially true of the Vigna Cicogna, a single-vineyard Greco from vines grown on old sulfur-mining country, where yellow streaks of sulfur still show in the soil.

The family story goes back to the 1880s, when Nunziante Ferrara, a judge in Avellino, planted the first vines in the hamlet of San Paolo and carted the wine by donkey to sell in nearby Tufo. His grandson Benito turned the focus to quality and released the first estate-bottled wine in 1991. Today the fourth generation, Gabriella Ferrara and her husband Sergio, run the estate. They farm about 12.5 hectares at 450 to 600 meters in the hills of Irpinia, inland from Naples in Campania, on calcareous clay of volcanic origin.

The range is short and focused. There are two Greco di Tufo bottlings, the Terre d'Uva and the Vigna Cicogna, plus the Fiano di Avellino "Sequenzha" and an Irpinia Aglianico called "Quattro Confini." Expect whites with real texture and a salty, smoky, mineral cut that makes them great with food and very good with age. They're a strong argument that Campania makes some of Italy's best white wines.