What Avellino Taught Us About Fiano.
In September, our owner John Davis spent a few days with the winemakers at Feudi San Gregorio in Avellino, southern Italy, the home of Fiano. Here he shares what he learnt, and how it compares to our trophy winning Fiano from Wrattonbully.
Words by John Davis, Owner
In September this year I visited the Avellino area, about 50km east of Naples. Avellino is home to some of Italy's best Fiano producers, as well as other notable agricultural and cultural products.
Avellino sits in a tectonically active area, with Mt Vesuvius to the south and the Flegrean Fields volcanic province to the north west. The hills and valleys of the area sit at elevations of 300 to 1,000 metres and provide a wide variety of viticultural sites for the increasingly popular Fiano grape variety.
I was fortunate to be able to spend a few days with the winemaking team at Feudi San Gregorio, probably the region's leading Fiano producer.
San Gregorio has 300 hectares of vineyards across a wide variety of sites between 400 and 500 metres elevation, with the altitude providing cool relief from the heat of the Campanian summer. The company makes separate wines from some 800 different blocks on its estate vineyards.
The best vineyard soils in the area are primarily based on limestone and marl substrates, with pockets of volcanic ash from Mt Vesuvius in some localities.
The soils produce grapes with crisp fruit flavours and vibrant acidity. Floral aromatics are a feature, and some blocks produce obvious minerality and heavier, structural characters which are favoured for single vineyard crus.
The winemaking styles at San Gregorio are focused on complete stainless steel handling with no barrel ageing. This is to preserve high natural acidity and minerality and prevent oxidation. Varying degrees of time on lees differentiate the different product styles. Reserve wines can spend one to two years on fine lees in tank and a further year in bottle before release. The differences produced by this type of maturation are obvious and surprising.
San Gregorio has a programme of small batch, small tank fermentations to constantly seek out new experimental styles within the underlying winemaking philosophy of letting the wine speak for itself.
Pepper Tree has been making Fiano wines from our Wrattonbully vineyard, and it was interesting to be able to discuss viticultural and winemaking techniques with the San Gregorio team. Ironically, Pepper Tree received a trophy for its 2026 Fiano at this year's Limestone Coast Wine Show a few weeks after my visit to San Gregorio.
Pepper Tree's Fiano at Wrattonbully is grown in soils similar to some of Avellino's, with loamy topsoils overlying friable calcareous clays over a limestone substrate. These soils retain moisture over a 1.5 metre deep profile and require very little irrigation to produce ideal canopy structures and crop levels for high quality Fiano. Our trophy winning Fiano features racy natural acidity and intense floral aromatics, with excellent structure and palate length.
The visit to Avellino has given us some ideas to experiment further with Fiano in the future, to satisfy a market where Fiano is becoming increasingly popular.
Taste the trophy winner
Reading about limestone soils and racy acidity only gets you so far. Our 2026 Limited Release Fiano took out a trophy at this year's Limestone Coast Wine Show, and there isn't a lot of it to go around. Pour a glass with salt and pepper squid or a bowl of pippies in white wine, and you'll taste what he's talking about.
Fiano FAQs
What does Fiano taste like?
Fiano is a white grape from southern Italy known for crisp fruit flavours, floral aromatics and vibrant natural acidity. The best examples also show minerality and a firm structure that carries the wine long on the palate.
Where is Pepper Tree's Fiano grown?
Our Fiano comes from our Wrattonbully vineyard in South Australia's Limestone Coast. The vines grow in loamy topsoils over calcareous clays and limestone, soils similar to some of the best sites in Avellino.
What food goes with Fiano?
Fiano's acidity and floral lift make it a natural match for seafood. Think salt and pepper squid, pippies, grilled prawns or a simple piece of white fish with lemon. It also works well with soft cheeses and summer salads.
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