The “alberatura aversana” (Aversana tree line) develops entirely in height. That of the poplars on which the Asprinio vines climb, a white grape variety that populates exclusively the lands of the Aversano countryside in the territory of twenty-two municipalities.
There the harvest is done with very high stairs, to reach the bunches, which grow on the espaliers of the vines supported by the trees up to a record height of twenty-five meters. Plants so spectacular and unusual as to have become a characteristic element of the landscape in the Aversa area, where the Asprinio vines, still free-footed today because they were not threatened by phylloxera, were introduced in the Angevin era. It seems that it was King Robert of Anjou who commissioned the search for an area suitable for growing that particular vine, so that the best sparkling wine could be made from it. And the countryside of Aversa proved to be perfect for the production, as well as the white Doc, of the sparkling wine destined to be recognized as an unrivaled "secco". Of which the combination with buffalo mozzarella is particularly appreciated. The happy meeting between two indisputable Caserta excellences.
The high espaliers of Asprinio represent the classic exception to the "rule" of low breeding, introduced by the Greeks twenty-nine centuries ago in Campania, in their insular and coastal settlements, and soon spread to all other territories suited to viticulture, including Campania Felix. Where the acidic and fresh soils in the area of the Roccamonfina volcano are the homeland of Galluccio, a DOC obtained for the white from Falanghinaand for the red and rosé from Aglianico. The same vines, grown in the Massico area - once known as ager Falernus - in five Municipalities including Sessa Aurunca and Mondragone, give the Falerno del Massico DOC, one of the most loved wines by the Romans, described by Pliny for the characteristics of its produced and sung by Catullus and by all the great Latin poets and men of letters.
