From the legal profession to viticulture: Teresa Mincione changes her life and relaunches the winemaking heritage of Alto Casertano. With Pallagrello and Casavecchia she interprets the territory in a contemporary key, focusing on elegance, freshness and authenticity. A young but already defined project, born from historic vineyards and precise choices. Antonella Amodio tells us about it.
A passion that becomes a choice
Pallagrello e Casavecchia embody the dream of Teresa Mincione: two ancient grapes indigenous to the Caserta area that she now cultivates in the Caiatine hills, collected as a precious legacy to be guarded and handed down.
His is a story that was born in the world of wine through a personal journey that shows how a genuine passion, cultivated over the years, can turn into the force capable of radically change lives. Nothing let her imagine, when she started approaching wine, that one day she would become a producer.
From the legal profession to the vineyard
For years, Teresa practiced as a criminal defense lawyer, moving from courtrooms to vine rows. At the same time, he graduated sommelier, earns a master’s degree in Rome and directs his travels to some of Europe’s most important wine regions.
For more than a decade she has been a contributor and taster to the Slow Wine guide, narrating and evaluating other people’s wine.
The decisive meeting
At some point something clicks: Teresa realizes that the court is no longer her future and decides to devote herself completely to wine. At that moment the winery Terre del Principe, founded by Manuela Piancastelli and Peppe Mancini (among the first to believe in the valorization of Alto Casertano vines), was about to close its course.
The meeting with them becomes decisive. In 1987 Teresa purchased one of the estate’s most representative vineyards, Monticelli vineyard, planted with Casavecchia, Pallagrello Bianco and Pallagrello Nero: a plot he knows well and has learned over the years to estimate its potential, having tasted its wine several times.
The vineyards and the territory
Before long he found himself with boots on the ground in the vineyard, and soon after, he also entered the project Vigna Bosco Agnese, two hectares dedicated to Pallagrello Bianco.
The vineyards are located between Caiazzo and Castel Campagnano, in a hilly landscape that looks toward the Matese Mountains, to which is added a small plot in Pontelatone. A scenic setting that opens one’s gaze to the beauty of the area. The wind is a constant presence, and the soils, composed of sandstone and clay, promote drainage and fertility. All around, natural forests and hedges contribute to the biodiversity.
It is precisely this agricultural dimension that wins Teresa over. Monticelli Vineyard, about 3 hectares in size, trained on the pergola and almost forty years old, is one of the cornerstones of the project: from here come wines that, according to Teresa, possess a natural and spontaneous elegance.
Grape varieties and identity
Work in the vineyard and cellar focuses on the grape varieties indigenous to the Caserta area: Pallagrello Bianco and Nero and Casavecchia. The first two are mentioned in the Bourbon Fan Vineyard of the Royal Palace of Caserta; the second remains shrouded in mystery, with origins not fully clarified.
Varieties deeply linked to the territory, with the Casavecchia which finds one of its most authentic expressions precisely in the Caiatino area, where it manages to give results that are difficult to replicate elsewhere.
It is this grape variety that most fascinates Teresa, who chooses to propose a more contemporary reading of it. Often interpreted with important extractions and long passages in wood, it is lightened by her to highlight elegance, momentum and varietal identity.
The birth of the winery
In 2021, the winery is born Teresa Mincione, who will make her sixth vintage in September. The first wine, produced in just over 1,600 bottles, is called “Nothing is by chance”: an amphora-aged Casavecchia, with a slender profile. The name tells the sense of the project, made up of encounters and steps that seem to follow a precise design.
Since 2023, Teresa has been using the enological consultancy of Vincenzo Mercurio and, from the beginning, the agronomic collaboration of Vincenzo Coppola.
Production philosophy
The production philosophy is oriented toward typicality and authenticity, with wines that seek balance, elegance and dynamism through work that aims more to take away than to add.
Thus was born a contemporary reading of Pallagrello Bianco, Pallagrello Nero and Casavecchia, vinified in purity and collected in the labels Nulla è per caso, Sabbie al Vento and La Luna e il Ventaglio.
Today
The winery has 6 hectares under vine for a production of about 10,000 bottles. Teresa spends much of her time among the vines, observing her wines with a new look: no longer as a critic, but as a producer.
A change of perspective that makes each choice even more conscious and each wine part of a personal project.
Lands of the Volturno Nothing is by chance 2021 Teresa Mincione
Score: 93/100
Average price: € 36,00
100% Casavecchia. Amphora.
Bright garnet. Aromas of underbrush and red fruit. Secondary hint of Mediterranean scrub. Broad, enveloping and with good structure. Freshness is its distinctive note that invites drinking.
Lands of the Volturno Sands in the Wind 2023 Teresa Mincione
Score: 92/100
Average price: € 36,00
100% Pallagrello Nero. Amphora.
Light ruby. Aromatic profile of black fruits, light spiciness and smoky notes. Fresh, streamlined and juicy sip.
Terre del Volturno The Moon and the Fan 2024 Teresa Mincione
Score: 92/100
Average price: € 36,00
100% Pallagrello Bianco. Amphora.
Bright straw yellow. Aromas of yellow fruit and white flowers. Secondarily a nuance of orange blossom. Broad and saline on the sip, fresh and persistent.
