Cantine del Mare

Bacoli, Campania

Cantine del Mare’s vineyards are dotted around ‘Monte di Procida’, a volcanic outcrop to the west of Napoli that is within the Campo Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields), of a ‘caldera’ with 24 volcanic edifices, most of which are under water.  The land is an eclectic mix of national park, historic, smart, and ramshackle, residential, tourist and commercial properties, all totally unencumbered by any form of planning.  There are no uninterrupted tracts of land here, everything is small scale, and vineyards can often be confused with gardens.

Gennaro was brought up here, his family owned several suitable patches of vineyard, but he had other plans and followed the American dream for a decade, before being drawn back and creating Cantine del Mare in 2003.  He is a charming, energetic, and generous man with a pizza oven in his tasting room!  He farms lemons and tomatoes as well as working 11 hectares, planted with Falanghina and Piedirosso.