The glamorous, highly touristic island of Capri, just off the Amalfi Coast, is home to a mere 20 hectares of vines, and Raffaele Pagano owns a 0.8-hectare parcel of co-planted Greco, Falanghina, and Biancolella here, from which he produces only about 1,200 bottles per vintage. “Joaquin Dall’Isola” (“Joaquin from the Island”) expresses Capri’s wind-buffeted limestone-rich terroir through Raffaele’s highly personal lens, as he co-ferments his varieties and allows them to macerate on their skins for five days before a six-month stint on the lees in non-thermoregulated stainless steel. Rich but not unctuous, mineral-saturated but not austere, this wine vividly evokes the sea in its whomping saltiness, yet possesses a sense of caressing serenity at its core.
