We first tasted Ciro Picariello´s wine in 2019 while Gonzalo and I were traveling with our husbands in Sicily. After visiting a winemaker in Vittorio, we returned to the small Sicilan city of Noto and dined at, what turned out to be, an outstanding restaurant with a killer southern Italian wine list. Like kids in a candystore, we sized up our company to determine how many bottles we could drink during the tasting menu. We drank many beautiful wines that evening, but the true standout for me was the first: Ciro Picariello´s Brut Contadina NV. (And if I´m honest, it was really the standout of the three week trip.) As any self-respecting wine geek would do, I immediately commenced researching Ciro Picariello in the hopes of one day importing his wine to Mexico.

Through email we learned more about Ciro and his winemaking philosophy. Ciro and his wife founded their winery in 1997, and released their first vintage in 2004. They quickly gained attention within the world of Fiano di Avellino producers, and became something of a cult favorite amongst collectors. Their vineyards are at a high elevation for the region of Campania, and this is part of the reason why they are able to coax more minerality and acid out of their Fiano. The wines are pure and extremely expressive of the terroir. No oak is used at the winery. They are also incredibly age-worthy.