Rediscovering an Ancient Grape

This blog is not meant to focus exclusively on Italian wines, but here I go again. I just can’t help myself when there is something fascinating at every bend in the Italian wine road—in this case a grape called Casavecchia. Never heard of it? Neither had I.

My introduction to this mysterious grape variety came in December when I finally made it to Danny Meyer’s new restaurant, Maialino. Wine director Steve Mancini indulged my craving for something unique by suggesting a bottle of Casavecchia Centomoggia Terre Del Principe IGT, 2006—a wine from the southern Italian region of Campania.

According to the producer’s website, this native grape variety was long thought to be extinct. Very little is known about its origins although some believe it is the same as the Trebulanum grape that Pliny the Elder wrote about all those years ago.

The story goes that a thick and probably very gnarled old vine was discovered hiding inside the remains of an ancient walled garden in the same area where Pliny wrote about Trebulanum. Cuttings were taken from this old plant, giving birth to new vines and to the grape’s new name—Casavecchia (meaning old house)—a reference to the site of the rediscovery.

Peppe Mancini and his wife, Manuela Piancastelli, founded the Terre Del Principe estate. Both abandoned professional careers—as lawyer and journalist, respectively—to grow vines in the area of Peppe’s childhood home. Perhaps fueled by memories of his grandfather and the local peasants who told stories of the region’s ancient varietals, the two have made it their mission to revive Casavecchia and two other ancient varieties, Pallagrello Bianco and Pallagrello Nero.

The Casavecchia Centomoggia is rich with dark berries and good tannic structure softened a bit by aging in new French oak. It smelled a little gamey and, with subtle hints of earth, pepper, and smoke, it was a nice “bridge” between my husband’s preference for more modern and smooth wines and my taste for something a little more rustic—a preference fueled by my own memories of the homemade wines I remember from my father’s immigrant neighborhood.

Tags: wine