FALANGHINA BENEVENTANA DOC La Guardiense

The Falanghina family: the cousins of Campania

As mentioned, Falanghina is almost certainly the oldest native vine variety/ wine from Campania. The origin is uncertain even if researchers trace the arrival of Falanghina with the first Greek settlers in the Campania area. The name probably derives from the Roman term "falangae", that is the screw support pole particularly used for Falanghina. A particularity in the name lies in the fact that, even with a series of changes, it has always maintained a name with strong similarities up to the present day. For some of these similarities, such as Falerna or Falernina, some have hypothesized, without certain confirmation, that it could have been used for the vinification of the historic Roman Falerno. Over the centuries we have always had traces and documents that validated the existence of Falanghina itself, we talked about it with particularity from 800, until the 70s of the last century, in which we identified two big types of Falanghina: that of Flegrea and that of Benevento. The Flegrea eventually includes both the area of Campi Flegrei proper and the area of Naples and Caserta. That Beneventana, discovered much more recently, is based on the identification of genetic characteristics such as to distinguish it from that of Flegrea. Falanghina Beneventana is generally distinguished from that Flegrea for a greater consistency, a good alcohol content and a sensitive acidity that guarantees good preservability, longevity and ease in making sparkling or raisin wines. Falanghina, despite having undergone significant damage from Phylloxera, has shown a superior resistance compared to other vines, and in some areas, such as Lake Averno, a small production of Falanghina with a free-standing has been maintained, which contributed to the repopulation of the vine variety. In short, the two Falanghine are substantially as "cousins" of the same family. The Falanghina Janare is of the Beneventano type.