PALLAGRELLO: the vineyard of the Matese mountains

Pallagrello (or Pallarello) is the name traditionally given to a native grape variety from the mountains of Matese in the province of Caserta.

In the local dialect, pallarello means "little round one", referring to the berries of the bunch, which are small and round in shape. It is one of the rare cases of a grape variety with both white and red berry versions.
Originating from the hills of Caiata, there are numerous historical records of it, which some trace back as far as the Roman Pilleolata. Extremely famous throughout the nineteenth century, it was used to produce one of the favourite wines of the Bourbons.

A historic wine, celebrated by Ferdinand IV of Bourbon for the beauty of its vineyard, who decided to honour it by ordering his gardeners to create the Vigna del Ventaglio: «A semicircle – as described in an 1826 account – divided into ten rays, so resembling a fan that it took and retained the name. Each ray, starting from the centre where the small entrance gate stands, contains vines of grapes of different varieties». In the ten rays, an equal number of different grape varieties, all from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, but only two local ones: Pallagrello bianco and nero, varieties at the time known as Piedimonte bianco and rosso after their place of origin.

«The wines of this region – as written in an eighteenth-century geographical dictionary – are excellent both white and red, and are among the finest in the Kingdom both for their quality and nature, and for the pleasant sensation they awaken on the palate. They go by the name of Pallarelli, and are highly esteemed at banquets».

The Bourbons offered it as a prestigious gift to their guests and included it, under the name of "Piedimonte rosso" (given its origin from the homonymous area of the Matese), among the wines featured in menus and wine lists for grand occasions, alongside the most celebrated French wines.
Low-yielding and very delicate, following the fate of most native grape varieties in Campania, Pallagrello was set aside at the beginning of the 1900s in favour of more resilient and productive vines, until its "rediscovery" by Peppe Mancini in the 1990s and by several entrepreneurs from Caserta.
The bunches are small, weighing a maximum of 150 grams, with perfectly spherical berries (hence the name "little ball").
Pallagrello bianco is harvested in mid-September, while Pallagrello nero is a "third-epoch" grape: it is harvested between late October and early November.