Montevetrano di Silvia Imparato

Campanian superstar wine, Montevetrano, burst onto the scene in 1995 and achieved cult status almost overnight. Italian photographer Silvia Imparato initially had just 4 hectares of vines south of Naples and made a little wine in 1991. Encouraged by the results she hired winemaker Ricardo Cotarella to help with the 1992 vintage. In 1995 she sent vintages 1991–1993 to Robert Parker who gave it a high score and famously called it the “Sassacaia of the south”. With this, the wine became sought-after overnight. The vineyard is on a south-facing slope with gravelly soils, and while the first vintage was 70% Cabernet and 30% Aglianico, the blend is now more typically 60% Cabernet, 30% Merlot and 10% Aglianico. Initially just 1000 bottles were made; now production is more like 30,000 bottles. The vineyard area has increased from 4 to 6 hectares and is planned to increase to 11 hectares in the near future; the expansion will stop when production reaches 50,000 bottles.