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The Grape Glossary: a guide to hip varietals
A vintner once told me that he likes "wines that I can chew." This was over dinner at a busy restaurant, and, granted, the food was coming slowly, so it's possible his mental faculties had been overcome by hunger. But he was making a point about texture. And oddly, we had been discussing the pleasures of good riesling, not a wine most people put in the same category as, say, dense cabernet sauvignon (or overdone steak or bubble gum). The message: Even crisp whites should possess weight, or flavour concentration in the middle palate, that, at least subconsciously, sets the jaw in motion.
Fiano, a marvellous Italian white, does it for me almost every time. It's far from heavy. Some might call it medium-bodied. Yet the best have a subtly waxy or oily quality that helps to anchor all the vibrant flavours.
Many centuries old, the grape makes its home in the southern Italian Campania region that surrounds Naples, coincidentally home to several other varieties on the hipster radar, such as greco and falanghina. It was revived in the 1970s after a long period of decline, rescued from the abyss by a new generation of proud Italians, most notably Antonio Mastroberardino, who were intent on restoring a grape that had fallen out of favour mainly because of its tendency to yield low levels of fruit per vine.
Many of the finest are labelled Fiano di Avellino, named for a town in Campania, though the variety can often be found alone or as a blending partner with other grapes in such nearby appellations as Irpinia and Sannio. It has also migrated up to the Marche region in central Italy as well as down to the island of Sicily.
Along with that waxy texture, fiano can exhibit nuances reminiscent of nuts, smoke and spices as well as a suggestion of minerality, sometimes drawing comparisons with fine white Burgundy. As in the case of many white Burgundies (made from chardonnay), some of the better producers have taken to aging fiano on its lees, or dead yeast cells. Even when matured in steel tanks, wines subjected to this technique acquire the sort of rich mouth feel typically associated with whites cellared in oak barrels (though some fianos are indeed also given the oak treatment).
But this is fundamentally crisp white wine, with a vibrant edge that Italians prize for its food-friendliness. Lighter fianos are marvellous with simply prepared seafood and young cheeses, though the richer styles can flatter meats such as chicken or veal.
Mastroberardino remains a benchmark producer, though the quality field has widened to include splendid examples from Feudi di San Gregorio (a personal favourite), Terredora, Villa Diamante and Donnachiara, among others. The grape has also surfaced with compelling results in Australia, though such worthy Aussie fiano pioneers as Coriole and Larry Cherubino rarely make it to Canada.
The Flavour Principle by Lucy Waverman and Beppi Crosariol (HarperCollins) won top prize for best general English cookbook at the 2014 Taste Canada Food Writing Awards.
E-mail your wine and spirits questions to Beppi Crosariol. Look for answers to select questions to appear in the Wine & Spirits newsletter and on The Globe and Mail website.