Cooking Vacations Visits Villa Matilde

If I met Maria Ida in a different circumstance, I would have ventured a guess that she was an art gallery curator or museum docent- with her gray wool cardigan contrasted perfectly with a red scarf and matching gray spike heels.  As we walk though the vineyard, she jokes: “I’m so short, I’m used to hiking in heels.”  I admire as she strolls gracefully over the uneven rocky ground. 

“We are vignaioli,” – people of the vine – she explains.  Her father, a lawyer by trade, planted the vines of Villa Matilde as a hobby, but never thought to make a living that way.  Maria Ida and her brother Salvatore Avallone, despite their father’s warnings, decided to continue his tradition- leaving the wealthy professional circles of the city of Naples, to live and work in the countryside.  “We started with just our passion, and today we have over 40 dedicated employees that help us produce about 880,000 bottles of our wines each year.”  

Across the vineyard she points out the Renaissance villa that is built on ancient Roman foundations. The evidence of the Roman roots of this area is unmistakable, located just a couple of miles from the Lazio border in Campania.  Here, the people have been cultivating grapes and making wine since Roman times- with the ancient Falernum – today’s Falerno Del Massico.

Maria Ida stoops and grabs a handful of dust that drains out of her palm into the wind, to demonstrate the characteristics of the soil.  Thanks to the extinct volcano, the mountains on three sides, and the sea breeze, the soil is perfect for grape growing.  “Here we grow the Aglianico grapes for the prizedCamarato,” she explains. “The vines here were planted by my father 47 years ago.” You can tell the age by the twisted, gnarled shoots coming out of the sandy soil in neat rows that are destined to make the garnet-colored Reserve.

“We may not be the largest or the oldest, but my brother and I make wines that convey our history and the personality of our land.  That is our past and that is what we will carry on.” She gestures with her hands passionately as she talks, her silver bauble bracelets clacking together each time.