Fiano is a high quality white grape variety from southern Italy, whose assertive personality and ageworthy wines have enjoyed an enthusiastic revival of popularity in recent decades.
Fiano’s small, thick skinned berries produce low yields that result in straw coloured, deeply flavoured and textured wines. The style can range from steely and mineral to much richer expressions, but flavours of apple, pear and hazelnut, often with notes of honey and spice, are all typical.
Fiano has deep roots in Campania, certainly pre-dating reliable written records. Like fellow local grape Falanghina, it may well have been one of the varieties cultivated in this region by the Romans and originally introduced by the colonising Greeks several centuries earlier.
Fiano is most commonly associated with Campania, especially around the town of Avellino where it achieves a notably fine expression. The variety also has significant plantings today in other southern Italian regions, including Molise, Puglia and Sicily. Beyond Italy, Fiano has recently been embraced in Australia thanks to its ability to thrive in a warm, dry climate, and the variety can also be found on a small scale in both California and Oregon.
Fiano di Avellino, Campania, Italy
Despite its quality, Fiano became dangerously rare in the mid-20th century but, thanks in particular to the efforts of producer Antonio Mastroberardino, has since bounced back strongly both in Italy and, increasingly, abroad.
This grape variety is also known by the name of:
Apiano, Apiana, Fiore Mendillo, Fiana, Fiano di Avellino, Faiano, Foiano, Latina Bianca, Latino, Latino Bianco, Santa Sofia.
