Storia
Agricultural roots
The Lonardo family has worked in agriculture for centuries. During the last three decades, its activity has become increasingly focused on the traditional cultivation of vines and experimentation in the cellar.
Founding of Contrade di Taurasi
Alessandro and Rosanna Lonardo founded the estate, while the family introduced the Contrade di Taurasi brand to the market in 1998. It began as a small, family-run agricultural enterprise covering 5 hectares. From the outset, its principles included using raw materials exclusively from its own vineyards, testing agronomic and oenological techniques without abandoning tradition, improving production processes to balance quality and price, and employing indigenous yeasts to express the characteristic sensory profile of its wines.
Development of the cru range
In 2007, the estate began producing a limited-bottle cru line based on two distinct areas within the commune of Taurasi: Vigne d’Alto, associated with the Case d’Alto locality, and Coste, associated with the Costa locality.
Recovery of Rovello Bianco
Another strand of the estate’s work has concerned the local white grape historically called Grecomusc’. The variety survives as scattered vines in the vineyards of the Taurasi area and is also cultivated on plateaus around Taurasi, Mirabella Eclano and Bonito. After a sustained program of research and an administrative recognition process pursued by Cantine Lonardo, the grape was entered in 2009 in the register of Italian native varieties as Rovello or Roviello Bianco.
Years of selection and cellar trials were used to address the variety’s unusual berry structure and naturally low juice yield. The work eventually expanded to include long skin maceration in terracotta amphorae, conceived as a means of preserving local farming culture and Taurasi’s historical cultivation and winemaking practices.
Family continuity
The agricultural business is presently held by Enza Lonardo and Antonella Lonardo, daughters of founders Alessandro and Rosanna. Members of the family remain directly involved in welcoming visitors, explaining the estate’s history and conducting tastings.
Terroir
The estate works in Irpinia, with its cellar at Contrada Case d’Alto in the commune of Taurasi. Its vineyards and grape sources reveal marked differences among sites rather than a single uniform soil profile.
The red-wine vineyards in Taurasi occupy elevations of approximately 300–400 m and generally have southern exposures. Soils vary from loose, volcanic-ash-rich material with a moderately coarse texture around Case d’Alto to clay-limestone soils in sectors along the Calore.
Case d’Alto, the locality associated with Vigne d’Alto, lies at about 400 m. Its soil has a silty-volcanic-ash matrix containing volcanic pumice. It is fine, friable and well drained, with abundant carbon and nitrogen and a measured pH of 6.58. The old vineyards stand in open, ventilated surroundings and therefore experience relatively little morning humidity during much of the year.
The Costa locality, associated with Coste, lies at about 320 m with a southern exposure. Its clay-limestone soil is coarse-grained and fairly compact. The rows are approximately 2.50 m apart. The setting is moderately ventilated and well exposed, although morning humidity affects it during parts of the year.
Rovello Bianco is grown or preserved on plateaus around Taurasi, Mirabella Eclano and Bonito, at elevations of 300–500 m and with varied exposures. These sites have diverse soils, with a predominance of loose ground rich in volcanic ash and/or limestone.
The broader Irpinian setting is characterized in the estate’s presentation by an advantageous microclimate and high-quality soils. Within that setting, the two Taurasi crus are treated as expressions of two distinct areas of the commune.
Vinificazione
Viticulture is organized around estate-grown fruit and manual work. Raw materials are intended to come exclusively from the family’s own vineyards, while agronomic experimentation is pursued alongside the preservation of traditional practices.
Harvesting is carried out by hand. Grapes are placed in 18 kg crates and transported immediately to the cellar. Aglianico harvest dates vary by site and intended production, from around the middle of October to the final days of the month.
Aglianico is cultivated principally in trellised, spur-pruned-cordon vineyards, while the oldest Case d’Alto material also includes starseto and Pergola Avellinese plantings. The estate identifies several expressions within its old Aglianico material, notably aglianicone and aglianichello. Stated planting density for the Aglianico vineyards is 3,000 vines/ha, with grape yields generally between 35 and 50 q/ha depending on the parcel and production.
Rovello Bianco combines Guyot and Pergola Avellinese training. Most vines are grafted, but some remain on their own roots. The variety survives in scattered plants within the Taurasi-area vineyards and has also been subjected to years of selection by the family. Its large, loose clusters and unusually high proportion of skin to pulp result in a comparatively low liquid yield, reflected in stated wine yields of 45–50%.
Production is limited in scale, and the work from grape care through bottling and labeling is conducted manually. The cellar combines technological control with established local practices and uses indigenous yeasts selected from the vineyards.
Reception and fermentation
Hand-picked grapes arrive immediately in 18 kg crates and are destemmed and crushed. Red-wine fermentations use indigenous yeast starters. Recorded fermentation temperatures reach 27–28°C, while some lots follow a rising maceration regime from 10°C to 28°C over 12–18 days. Active fermentation generally lasts 13–15 days. Skin contact varies by lot: approximately 15 days in shorter regimes, up to 15–60 days in other tanks, or about 30 additional days after alcoholic fermentation for selected material.
Malolactic fermentation begins spontaneously in the red wines, with recorded durations of approximately 13–15 days.
Maturation vessels
The cellar uses stainless steel and several oak formats. These include 500 L barrels, 5 hl and 15 hl barrels, and 25 hl casks. The 5 hl and 15 hl vessels are explicitly described as not being first-use. Depending on the lot, maturation may be divided between oak and steel, or may involve 18 months in 500 L oak followed by 10 months in stainless steel and subsequent bottle rest. Blending takes place in stainless steel.
Rovello Bianco
The conventionally vinified Rovello Bianco undergoes approximately two hours of maceration at ambient temperature, followed by fermentation controlled at 18°C. After separation from coarse lees, it rests in steel for 6–8 months on fine lees. Clarification is achieved through successive rackings before coarse filtration through inert 3-micron cartridges.
A separate amphora method uses approximately 300 L terracotta vessels. The destemmed and crushed grapes macerate at ambient temperature for no less than two months. After alcoholic fermentation, the amphorae are topped up and checked weekly to monitor polyphenolic extraction and the wine’s natural stabilization. After 3–6 months, the wine is racked away from skins and coarse lees. The amphorae are washed with sterile water, refilled, and the wine matures for at least one year before bottling without filtration or stabilizing treatment.
Bottling
Several red lots are bottled without filtration, and selected long-macerated wines are neither filtered nor stabilized. This low-intervention finishing approach can leave light natural deposits in the bottle.
Filosofia
Contrade di Taurasi is built around four declared principles: sourcing raw materials exclusively from its own vineyards; testing new agronomic and oenological techniques while respecting tradition; optimizing production to maintain a balanced relationship between quality and price; and using indigenous yeasts to reinforce the characteristic sensory identity of its wines.
The family links quality to detailed manual attention at every stage, from care of the land and vines to bottling and labeling. Limited production is treated as a means of maintaining this hands-on approach.
Its work with Rovello Bianco expresses a related commitment to recovering and conserving local farming culture. Selection, research and amphora vinification are intended to protect rare plant material and cultivation and cellar techniques tied to Taurasi’s history. The resulting wines are conceived as expressions of their individual places and of the estate’s own production identity.
Tradition is not presented as the rejection of technology: the approach combines respect for older winemaking processes with technological attention and continued experimentation in both vineyard and cellar.