Quintodecimo

Quintodecimo is the estate of Professor Luigi Moio, one of the world leading academic authorities on oenology. Moio grew up in a winemaking family at Mondragone, north of Naples, and after his doctorate spent the early nineties in Burgundy researching the aromatics of Pinot Noir. He returned to be appointed Professor of Oenology at the University of Naples.

While teaching he also consulted for several of the best producers in Campania, but came to the conclusion that what he really wanted was to make his own wine, on his own terms and without compromise. In 2001 he and his wife Laura bought a property at Mirabella Eclano, in the mountainous heart of the Taurasi denomination at 460 metres.

The estate has grown to forty hectares, every parcel within ten miles of Mirabella Eclano, taking in vineyards at Taurasi, in the Tufo area and towards the village of Lapio. The vineyards are organically farmed on clay and volcanic soils, and they give Aglianico, Greco, Falanghina and Fiano of exceptional quality.

The name comes from the fifteenth Roman milestone on the Via Appia, which passed through this part of Irpinia. The wines carry literary and artistic names, from the medieval Exultet parchments to Van Gogh in Arles, and are made with a precision that reflects a career spent studying exactly why wine smells and tastes as it does.