(Wine) On his father’s side, Gian Luca Mazzella (who has a degree in theology and philosophy) has roots in Campania, where his grandfather was already a winegrower. Now almost fifty years old, he caught the winegrowing bug during his time at university—but it would take decades for him to finally grow his own. Subconsciously, however, the seed had already been planted very early on.

Mazzella’s trajectory has always been shaped by wine. Thanks to a wine collector friend, he became acquainted with many of the world’s greatest and most expensive wines at a young age. Thirty years ago, he began to gain experience in renowned wineries in France, followed by stints in Germany, Piedmont, Tuscany and the Veneto region and increasingly worked as a consultant in the background for many of Italy’s leading wineries.

On the side, he worked as a wine journalist and organized numerous international wine tastings. His “100 Years of Riesling” tasting with Jancis Robinson at Schloss Johannisberg in April 2008 was legendary, as were his vertical tastings of Giacomo Conterno’s Barolo Riserva Monfortino and the great wines of Giacosa. He not only shared a close friendship with the great Gianfranco Soldera but also the search for the “grande vino contadino”—the great peasant wine. The legacy of the experience entrusted to him as well as his gratitude to his companions finally made Mazzella want to become a winemaker himself.

The search for a suitable terroir led Mazzella back to his roots in Campania. Thanks to its altitude (400 to 700 meters above sea level) and the robust autochthonous Aglianico grape variety, the Taurasi region offers great potential for the future, even in times of climate change. The fact that the region’s aptitude and grape variety have barely been exploited to date was more of an incentive than a hurdle. Mazzella currently cultivates a total of 3.6 hectares of very old, high-altitude Aglianico vineyards in the municipality of Paternopoli, in the hilly and mountainous landscape of Irpinia around 80 kilometers east of Naples.

Gian Luca Mazzella’s vision of an ideal vineyard largely takes its vegetative-productive balance into account. For him, this means respecting the entire ecosystem—or more, even, the entire surrounding community—and not optimizing it for the vines. One look at the flower-filled vineyards is worth a thousand words. The result is an extremely low grape yield per hectare, which for Mazzella is the key to producing a great wine. With an average of eleven hectoliters per hectare, he harvests only a fraction of the usual quantity for quality winegrowing.

“For me, it’s all about the fruit, its purity and the ripeness of its skin; I subordinate everything else to that,” says Mazzella about his approach. “I have always been convinced—and I learned this 30 years ago in Burgundy—that trying to make a great wine involves great risks and high costs. And quite a bit of insanity.”

After the very late harvest in mid-November, the grapes are carefully selected and crushed. The whole fruit is then placed in wooden fermentation racks and ceramic amphorae, where it’s submerged several times a day while the run-off juice is pumped around for the must to ferment spontaneously for around three weeks. After maceration for 70 to 120 days, the juice runs off in a vertical press using only its weight with zero pressure. There’s hardly a gentler way to process high-quality grapes.
Under the designation of origin Taurasi D.O.C.G. as Riserva and the registered trademark “Paterico,” Mazzella bottled his first wine in September 2023. Due to the extremely low yield, there are only 3,151 numbered bottles of this premium Aglianico worldwide.

For philosophers and theologians, however, wine is far more than just a natural product; it’s a community and a way to connect with others, and not just an unrealistic individual quest or the achievement of a single person. Every winery is also a small community within the community of the village or the region. “A village means not being alone and knowing that there is something of your own in all the people, plants and trees, even if you are no longer there yourself,” says the new winegrower, emphasizing the social and transcendental significance that wine also has for him.

May Gian Luca Mazzella’s wish of not being a star remain fulfilled and may he bring us many more vintages of this honest and fantastic wine. As a new and shimmering entry in the cosmos of Italian wines, Paterico will not be spared the fame of a star, as numerous enthusiastic voices in the international wine scene have already indicated.

The dark, fresh wild berries and eucalyptus on the nose are initially reminiscent of great Piedmontese wines. With lively acidity on the palate, the fruit is still somewhat restrained, no doubt due to the wine’s youth. Nevertheless, it has a very clear and pure style. The wood is noticeable, but not in the foreground. Despite its richness—we’re in southern Italy after all—the wine never seems overpowering. Those who know Aglianico as a rather rustic grape variety will be pleasantly surprised by the inspiring freshness and finesse as well as the moderate alcohol content of 13.5 percent. It’s wonderfully harmonious and seamless already—as only great wines can be!