Colle Imperatrice
CAMPI FLEGREI DOP FALANGHINA
It has been said that this variety entered in Italy from the port of Cuma, an ancient colony founded in 700 BC at the foot of the Phlegrean Fields. The Greeks cultivated their vines by leaving them to crawl on the ground. In Italy, however, this type of training system produced moldy grapes. So the settlers were forced to look for an alternative method. This was how the first winemakers understood that by lifting the vines off the ground and attaching them to wooden poles, in Latin phalangae, they avoided the onset of botrytis. From these support systems Vinum Album Phalanginum was born, the ancestor of our Falanghina.
Technical product sheet
Grape variety | Falanghina 100%
Production area | Astroni, 200 m a.s.l
Soil | loam—sandy, loam—loamy
Training system | guyot
Yield | 70 quintals/ha
Harvest period | end of September, first part of October
Harvest | manual
Winemaking
Technical prefermentation | cryomaceration
Fermentation | 2 weeks in stainless steel
Fermentation temperature | 14° – 18° C
Refining | “sur lies” in steel for 4 months and bottle
Alcohol content | 12% – 12.5%
Organoleptic characteristics
A clear and consistent wine, a straw yellow color with golden hues and hints of green.
The nose is intense, fine and complex and presents with floral and fruity notes.
It is dry warm and smooth on the palate. A good freshness and sapidity.
A balanced, full-bodied wine with good persistence and intensity.
The Imperatrice vineyard is located in front of Vigna Astroni.
The vineyard, made up exclusively of Falanghina grapes, faces south and extends for about 2.8 hectares at an altitude of about 150 meters above sea level with a topographical reference of latitude 40°60’50’ N and 14°09 ’59” and longitude.
From the grapes of the Imperatrice vineyard we produce Colle Imperatrice Campi Flegrei Dop Falanghina.
The Falanghina probably derives from ancient Greek-Balkan stocks and seems to owe its name to its expanded habit, for which it was traditionally tied to support poles called “falanga”, from which Falanghina, or “vine supported by poles”.
The vine has medium-sized bunches, long and compact, cylindrical in shape and winged on one side. The grains are medium in size, spherical in shape with medium concentrations of bloom on the thick skins with gray colors with yellow reflections.
It is quite vigorous, with average, constant yields and harvests starting from the third week of September.