2019 Joaquin - Fiano di Avellino DOCG Vino della Stella (750ml)

Joaquin is the personal project of Raffaele Pagano, heir apparent to his family's large Salerno-based wine business, who chose instead to strike out on his own path. Pagano now produces a small eighteen thousand bottles a year from three and a half hectares spread across Irpinia and Capri, working with old parcels of Fiano and Aglianico he began acquiring in the early 2000s. He named the winery after the French-Spanish Bourbon family whose planting legacy shaped the region's viticulture, and his wines are known for pushing past convention while staying rooted in a strong sense of place.

Vino della Stella comes from a small parcel of Fiano vines between twenty and thirty years old, grown in the volcanic clay-limestone soils of Lapio, a commune considered the variety's spiritual birthplace and finest terroir. Lapio's high altitude, cool microclimate, and wide swings between day and night temperatures give the grapes unusual precision. After fermentation, the wine spends eight months resting on its fine lees in steel and fiberglass without temperature control, then rests further in bottle before release, a deliberate delay that lets the wine's youthful floral character settle into something deeper.

The 2019 offers savory, almost oxidative aromatics of citrus peel, dried flowers, and toasted almond, layered over a rich, textural palate with bright acidity and a long, saline finish. It pairs beautifully with briny seafood, funky cheeses, or grilled octopus.