Fiano white wine variety

Fiano is a strongly flavoured white grape variety which is used to make the highly regarded Fiano di Avellino in Campania in Southern Italy. Avellino is a wine region in the hills inland from Naples.

There is a small but growing number of producers of this variety in Australia. This is likely to change over the next few years as more and more grapegrowers and wineries react to the problems of climate change. It seems that South Australian winemakers are especially keen on the variety, taking the lead from Coriole who pioneered the Fiano in Australia.

Global warming seems to be causing the vintage date of many vineyards to become earlier. Small increases in temperature over the course of the growing season can cause the grapes to ripen a week or two earlier.

In the 2007 Vintage in Australia some wineries were picking a month earlier than usual. The trend has continued since then. The consequence is that the temperature is significantly higher during the last month of ripening, and this has an adverse effect on wine quality.

Some Australian vineyards and wineries are choosing later ripening varieties, such as Fiano, Aglianico, Nero d'Avola and Vermentino, as a response to this problem.

What does Fiano wine taste like?

De Long's Wine Grape Varietal Table lists the variety as having the potential to produce light weight wines of moderate to high acidity. The flavour profile is described as

Nutty, herbal, aromatic, with smoky spicy notes and hazelnuts

Wineries who use Fiano in Australia include

Fiano Wines and Food

These crisp dry white wines can be paired with a range of foods. Try them with seafood, pasta dishes or other Italian style cuisine.

Try Fiano with pan fried King George whiting and chips.

Brian St Pierre in this book suggests that Fiano is one white wine variety that goes well with dishes normally associated with red wines such as stuffed eggplant, or rolled veal birds.