QUINTODECIMO
Irpinia, Campania
The best of the best, it’s what we seek out daily to offer you who we think are at the top of their game from any of the world’s top wine growing regions. Still pretty under the radar, we tasted these wines a few months ago - our expectations were pretty high considering the prices and the talent behind them. The wines easily sailed past anything I have had from the region, including the wines from the crazy old coot Antonio Caggiano that are so good, as well as from the classist name in the region that for me is the benchmark, Mastroberardino. The Greco here is truly amazing, it is a grape that can make pretty big white wines, and while this is the most endowed in the lineup it carries a lot of freshness and is light on its feet, alcohol in check too!
The Quintodecimo wines on offer today include:
VIA DEL CAMPO FALANGHINA 2023 VM92
JAUNE D’ARLES GRECO DI TUFO 2023 VM93
EXULTET FIANO D’AVELINO 2023 VM93+
GRAN CUVEE LUIGI MOIO IRPINIA BIANCO DOC 2022 VM95
TERRA D’ECLANO AGLIANICO DOC IRPINIA 2021 VM93
VIGNA GRANDE CERZITO TAURASI RISERVA 2019 VM96+
TAURASI RISERVA VIGNA QUINTODECIMO 2019 VM975
If you know anything about the top producers in Campania, they are not just Quintodecimo, but also Luigie Tecce, Rafaele Pagano at Joaquin, Antonio Caggiano, Galardi, Mastroberardino, Feudi di San Gregorio, and for me on the coast Marisa Cuomo. Luigi Moio, founder and proprietor of Quintodecimo, is an enologist, enology professor, and he also helped 3 of those wineries I mentioned get started and his fingerprints are all over those wineries to this day!
The Irpinia and Tarausi region is well suited for top winemaking as the climate is cooled by high altitudes (located between 1,200 - 1,900 feet). It is more continental than Mediterranean as it snows in the winter and summers are very hot. The climate and topography in between seasons though, is unlike that of other great Italian winemaking regions. It is not golden and dry like Tuscany, Sicily, or Umbria, but green and mountainous, with lakes and abundant natural forests.
Ok, so who is Quintodecimo? See notes at the end of this post.
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QUINTODECIMO VIA DEL CAMPO FALANGHINA 2023 VM92
Campania, Italy
$49.99/bottle
Grape: Falanghina 100%
92 pts Vinous Media (Eric Guido)
The 2023 Via Del Campo is sweetly floral, blending chamomile and candied lime with peach sorbet. This shimmers on the palate, crystalline and remarkably fresh, with citrus-tinged green apple fruit and juicy acidity. It tapers off with admirable length and concentration, leaving a youthful tension and hints of green melon that linger on and on.
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QUINTODECIMO JAUNE D’ARLES GRECO DI TUFO 2023 VM93
Campania, Italy
$49.99/bottle
Grape: Greco di Tufo 100%
93 pts Vinous Media (Eric Guido)
Youthfully coy, the 2023 Giallo D’Arles opens with a delicately floral blend of young peaches, pears and hints of confectionary spice. This is silky-smooth yet lifted in feel, with a savory mix of white pit fruits and inner herbal tones that soothe the senses. It leaves a mineral tinge and a twang of sour lime, tapering off dramatically long with a bump of brisk acidity that lights up the palate.
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QUINTODECIMO EXULTET FIANO D’AVELINO 2023 VM93+
Campania, Italy
$49.99/bottle
Grape: Fiano 100%
93+ Vinous Media (Eric Guido)
The 2023 Exultet is stunning, savory and remarkably pure. An array of Asian pear, ground ginger, dusty dried flowers and wet stone form its inviting bouquet. This is soft-textured with a balancing tinge of minerals and spice. Crisp orchard fruits cascade across the palate. It finishes with staining length and tension as nuances of young peach and minty herbs fade gradually. Just a baby today, the 2023 is positioned for a long and lovely maturation.
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QUINTODECIMO GRAN CUVEE LUIGI MOIO IRPINIA BIANCO DOC 2022 VM95
Campania, Italy
$124.99
Very Limited
95 pts Vinous Media (Eric Guido)
The 2022 Grande Cuvée Luigi Moio is impossible to ignore, with a seductive bouquet that blends crushed stones and vanilla custard with a savory tinge of ginger and freshly sliced nectarines. This opens with a lovely inner sweetness, complicated by depths of salty minerality as crisp orchard fruits saturate the senses beneath an air of pretty inner florals. The 2022 tapers off lightly structured, spicy and long, with a reverberation of youthful tension and tantalizing acidity that maintains fantastic freshness. What a beauty. The Grande Cuvée ferments in a combination of stainless steel and 60% new French oak, which is masterfully integrated.
QUINTODECIMO TERRA D’ECLANO AGLIANICO DOC IRPINIA 2021 VM93
Campania, Italy
$59.99/bottle
93 pts Vinous Media (Eric Guido)
The 2021 Terra D’Eclano is remarkably expressive, with a vivid blend of wild strawberries, violets, lavender and hints of wet stone. It sweeps across the palate, wildly fresh and lifted with crisp wild berry fruits and perfumed inner florals. Tactile mineral tones form toward the close. The 2021 finishes long and staining yet energetic, with a gentle tug of fine tannins and a nuance of sour citrus. Wow.
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QUINTODECIMO’S EXTREMELY RARE & EXTREMELY LIMITED TAURASI WINES
QUINTODECIMO VIGNA GRANDE CERZITO TAURASI RISERVA 2019 VM96+
Campania, Italy
$149.99
Very Limited
96+ pts Vinous Media (Eric Guido)
Darkly floral and intense, the 2019 Taurasi Riserva Vigna Grande Cerzito slowly awakens in the glass with a display of crushed blackberries, incense and exotic spice, complicated by hints of flowery undergrowth. This is like pure silk on the palate, polished and cool-toned in feel, with a balsamic tinge to its ripe red and black fruits. Its tannins come forward through the finish, long and staining, leaving an echo of licorice and spice to linger on and on.
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QUINTODECIMO TAURASI RISERVA VIGNA QUINTODECIMO 2019 VM975
Campania, Italy
$179.99
Extremely Limited
97 pts Vinous Media (Eric Guido)
The 2019 Taurasi Riserva Vigna Quintodecimo is wonderfully perfumed and spicy, as wild blueberries and lavender give way to incense and clove. This is silky-smooth and elegant. A wave of mineral-tinged wild berry fruits washes across the palate, leaving a web of fine-grained tannins in its wake. The 2019 leaves the palate stained in primary concentration, tapering off dramatically long and structured yet still remarkably fresh. Luigi Moio calls this his Bordeaux without Cabernet or Merlot. It’s a remarkably refined rendition of Vigna Quintodecimo.
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About Quintodecimo
A quick google search got me to a great Wine Spectator article that was great from last year HERE (no paywall). The Quintodecimo website is a little clunky, but I extracted the good stuff from it for you.
In short, Quintodecimo is run by Luigi Moio, a highly respected and talented Italian enology professor. "Southern Italy’s most Erudite winemaker" is how Robert Camuto of the Wine Spectator appropriately describes him. Not surprisingly, “Moio studied primarily in Burgundy, where he earned a Ph.D. for his work on the chemistry of aromas and flavors in wine and food. His bestselling 2016 Italian wine book, Il Respiro del Vino (The Breath of Wine), was published in French translation earlier this year. When he talks, he can sound like an introspective and philosophical Frenchman.”
