We are the only retail store in the country with an allocation of this outstanding dry Fiano and we sold out just prior to the cyclones. Winemaker Jenny Dobson has released another 12 bottles to us, but that’s it. The vineyard did survive the inclement weather intact, but volumes are likely to be down next year. She and we are big fans of Fiano, which originally comes from southern Italy. Her Hawke’s Bay version has proven so successful that it sells out within days of arriving at Regional so she is planning to double production when the weather permits.
She has since made a 2014 Fiano from the Bush Hawk vineyard, which she now leases from owner Bryce Campbell, who planted the first 300 vines in 2010.
Fiano is an old grape variety from Campania in south west Italy, dating back to the 12th Century, following which it widely planted but later fell out of favour due to being decimated by phylloxera in the late 1800s. Plantings of Fiano were sporadic in Italy until the 1940s when winemaker Antonio Mastroberadino made his first 30 bottles in 1945.