The Red
Red, its infinite shades, its literary and cinematic interpretations (Stendhal’s The Red and the Black, or My Name is Red by Turkish Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, or even Rosso Malpelo, from a short story by Giovanni Verga).
Red is also the color of strong emotions: it’s not difficult to blush from shame, fear, or simply to blush from modesty. It’s the color of blood, even when you don’t pretend to have it blue. It’s an emotionally powerful, warm, enveloping color. A clear symbol of power (the portrait of Paolo V Borghese, attributed to Caravaggio and housed in the Galleria Borghese or the portrait of papa Innocenzo X by Velázquez, housed in the Galleria Doria Pamhpilj).
Our red is the impenetrable Recupo Taurasi DOCG or the vibrant garnet of 777 Campi Taurasini DOC. Nuances add to nuances, becoming flavors, tickling your senses, making pleasure urgent.
Our red is 100% pure Aglianico.
The White
White is probably the oldest color, documented since the Paleolithic era, made of calcite and chalk. It is the color of priestesses’ robes, a color that connects intimately with spirituality. It is the color of many political movements, from the White Guelphs who opposed blacks, to the monarchists who opposed the Bolsheviks, and, in Italy, the Christian Democrats, the so-called White Whale.
The Inuit have seven words for white and Sanskrit distinguishes the white of teeth from that of milk or that of stars.
When we mention the whale, we cannot help but think of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, and of Captain Ahab’s obsession with white. And so, white ceases to be the color of purity, virginity, or the spirit. In some cultures, especially Eastern ones, white, not black, is the color of death.
Our white isn’t so scary, because it’s a strange white: it’s yellow. The vibrant golden yellow of the Tufonero Greco di Tufo DOCG, enhanced by the 888 Greco di Tufo DOCG Riserva. The straw yellow of the Saucito Fiano di Avellino DOCG, which becomes luminous in the Alma, Falanghina Campania IGT.
Our white is 100% pure Greco di Tufo, Fiano di Avellino or Falanghina.