RARE GRAPE VARIETAL RESOURCE

Casavecchia is an extremely rare red grape variety from Campania, southwest Italy. Local legend has it that a single, forgotten vine was discovered among the ruins of Pontelatone, from which cuttings were taken and used to graft new vines. The variety takes its name – which translates as "old house" – from this origin, and today Casavecchia is prized for its earthy, tannic red wines.

The variety is found exclusively in the hills of northern Campania, around the village of Pontelatone. Here, Casavecchia wines can fall under the Casavecchia di Pontelatone DOC, or the regional Terre del Volturno IGT title. Casavecchia is often used in blends but local producers who want to raise the profile of the variety have been producing single-variety wines, which are finding favor with an international audience.

Casavecchia vines have low vigor and productivity, which is possibly the reason they have been forgotten for so long, only made into table wines by local farmers. However, a move toward quality has seen these traits become more highly prized, and Casavecchia has high levels of anthocyanins which give the wines deep color and strong but supple tannins. Casavecchia wines tend to be medium bodied and aromatic with aromas of dried herbs, black fruits and leather, with vegetal overtones.

(Source: https://www.wine-searcher.com/grape)

Said to have been identified with the grapes of Trebulanum wine enjoyed by Roman legionaries and mentioned by Pliny the Elder (23 A.D. – 79 A.D.) in the XIV book of the Naturalis Historia. It seems that the Trebulanum came from the Roman settlement of Trebula Balliensis, the current Treglia, a few kilometers from Liberi – one of the 9 communes where the grape is planted today, for the most part, in old vineyards, north of Caserta. According to popular legend, in the late 1800s, after a tremendous epidemic that destroyed most of the vineyards in the area, by an old house’s ruin a peasant found a vine stump still living and vigorous, henceforth called Casavecchia (“old house”). Producers and conscientious scholars have inspired the recent efforts to safeguard and promote this variety

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