Fontanavecchia: The Rillo Brothers and That Falanghina That Highlights the Differences
Written by Davide Gangi | Published in territory, wine 
Time in wine does not merely measure vintages. It preserves choices, adds depth to relationships, allows us to understand the value of continuity, and, above all, gives new meaning to what we have been fortunate enough to know from the very beginning. It is with this sentiment that I think of Fontanavecchia and the Rillo family, because for me, telling the story of this winery today means not only tracing the history of the Sannio region but also rediscovering an important part of Vinoway’s journey.
In Torrecuso, at the foot of Mount Taburno, wine has been part of the Rillo family for generations. This story has its roots in the 19th century and found a key figure in Orazio Rillo, who was able to pass on to his children not only a winery but, above all, a connection to the vineyard and to this land. Today, Libero and Giuseppe Rillo carry on that legacy, each with their own distinct personalities and roles but united by a shared vision that, over the years, has made Fontanavecchia one of the most recognizable names in the Sannio region.
And when I think of Fontanavecchia, I inevitably think of Libero Rillo.
We’ve known each other for many years—practically since Vinoway’s inception—and there’s one thing I’ve never forgotten: Fontanavecchia was one of the first companies outside of Puglia to believe in our project.
It wasn’t easy back then.
Vinoway had just been launched; its initial roots were inevitably in Puglia, and taking that idea beyond the region’s borders meant earning trust without yet having a track record to speak for us. We had to explain what we wanted to build, convey the seriousness of the project, and meet people willing to look a little further ahead.
Libero was one of those people.
I remember him with gratitude, but also with the serenity that only the passage of time can bring to genuine relationships, because in the meantime, Fontanavecchia has become one of the long-standing wineries in the Vinoway Selection, and we’ve had the privilege of following its evolution harvest after harvest. But if I had to pinpoint one aspect that best captures Fontanavecchia’s personality, I wouldn’t hesitate: I’d choose the work they’ve done with Falanghina.
Producing Falanghina in the Sannio region comes naturally. But trying to fully understand its nuances—going so far as to distinguish individual vineyard plots and bring them to the glass so they can express their own identity—means taking it a step further. And this is precisely where Fontanavecchia becomes particularly fascinating.
The single-vineyard Falanghina wines produced by the Rillo family represent something that goes beyond the simple desire to offer different wines. They are almost an invitation to taste, to be curious, and to seek out those subtle nuances that only careful tasting can gradually reveal.
Libero B Parcel 148, Libero F Parcel 190, and Libero T Parcel 031 thus become three ways of viewing the same grape variety—three perspectives through which to explore the relationship between Falanghina and the place where it is grown.
And it’s wonderful to be able to taste them side by side. It’s one of those moments when I rediscover the most authentic pleasure of tasting. Not the pleasure of immediately searching for the best wine, nor that of quickly arriving at a score, but the pleasure of pausing. Tasting. Waiting. And then tasting again.
Because at first, the differences may seem subtle, almost imperceptible. Then the wine opens up, its temperature changes, it takes in oxygen, and slowly begins to reveal its character. One Falanghina seems more taut, another more expansive; in one glass you sense a more vertical profile, in the other greater depth. The texture, the progression, the finish—and sometimes even the way the wine fills the palate—change. These are subtle nuances.
But it is precisely those small details that make a wine tasting extraordinarily interesting. I like to return to the same glasses several times, almost forgetting for a few minutes everything I know about those wines. It’s an exercise I consider essential because it forces the taster to truly “listen.” To not settle for the first impression, to look for what wasn’t immediately obvious, and to ask why those wines—made from the same grape variety and grown just a short distance apart—can take on different characteristics.
That’s when the vineyard ceases to be an abstract concept. You can sense it in the glass. Parcel 190, situated at an elevation of around 300 meters and characterized by the presence of calcareous marl, tells one story; Parcel 031, sourced from vineyards located at different elevations and on soils where the clay component once again meets the calcareous marl, tells another. Then there is Parcel 148, which completes a journey that allows you to observe just how surprisingly sensitive Falanghina is to the characteristics of its terroir.
And this, in my opinion, is one of the elements that best defines Fontanavecchia: the desire to look beyond the obvious. Not settling for simply knowing that the Sannio is a great region for Falanghina, but trying to understand just how much that same Falanghina can vary within the Sannio. Not limiting oneself to describing the region with words, but presenting it to the taster and letting the glasses reveal the differences.
It’s a philosophy that I find extremely contemporary precisely because it stems from something ancient: the observation of the vineyard. Falanghina, after all, has experienced extraordinary growth in recent decades. From a wine appreciated primarily for its freshness and immediacy, it has gradually become one of the Italian whites worth examining more closely—especially when it’s produced with the ambition to explore its depth and potential for aging.
Fontanavecchia has been a strong believer in this approach. And I think the “particelle” project is one of the smartest ways to demonstrate this, because it doesn’t try to impose a hierarchy. It doesn’t necessarily say that one vineyard is better than another. It says something much more interesting: they’re different.
For those who truly love wine tasting, this difference is a treasure. Then there is the winery’s other great gem: Aglianico. While Fontanavecchia’s Falanghina invites us to explore its nuances, Aglianico brings us back to the value of time. It is a grape variety that does not take shortcuts, capable of great intensity but also of a complexity that needs to mature slowly to fully express itself.
In the Rillo family’s wines, this energy is complemented without being overshadowed. Grave Mora and Vigna Cataratte represent two of the winery’s most significant interpretations of Aglianico and demonstrate just how much the Taburno River contributes to this grape variety’s depth, character, and potential for aging. I like to think that Falanghina and Aglianico also reflect two different ways of understanding time.
The Falanghina delle Particelle invites you to pause and savor the wine in your glass, to appreciate every subtle variation, every nuance, every detail. The Aglianico, on the other hand, invites you to wait, to give the wine the time it needs to find its balance. In both cases, however, patience is required. And this is perhaps one of the most beautiful lessons that Fontanavecchia manages to convey.
Behind it all stands the family. There is Orazio Rillo, along with that generation that preserved and passed down an agricultural heritage long before wine became the media phenomenon we know today. There are Libero and Giuseppe, who have taken up that legacy, choosing not merely to preserve it, but to let it evolve, to nurture it with wisdom and love.
This generational transition is important because it clearly illustrates what Fontanavecchia has become: a company that possesses both memory and curiosity. And perhaps it is precisely these two words—memory and curiosity—that best describe it.
Memory prevents us from losing touch with our history, with Torrecuso, with the Taburno River, with our family, and with the grape varieties that have been growing in these vineyards for generations. Curiosity, on the other hand, drives us to distinguish one plot from another, to observe the differences, to experiment, and to constantly ask ourselves whether that land still has something new to reveal.
It is this balance that I find in wines. And it is also the reason why, after so many years, I continue to approach Fontanavecchia wines with curiosity. Knowing a winery for a long time should never mean assuming we already know what we’ll find in the glass. That would be the biggest mistake a taster could make.
On the contrary, the more I get to know a wine, the more I’m interested in discovering its nuances. This is exactly what happens with the Rillo family’s single-vineyard Falanghina wines. Each time, I return to look for that subtle difference, that nuance that I might have interpreted differently during my previous tasting, that detail that the vintage has made more evident or more subtle. And that’s where I rediscover the pleasure of tasting. Not in recognizing what I already know, but in discovering something I hadn’t yet perceived.
Perhaps this is what fascinates me most about Fontanavecchia: a winery that invites you to take a closer look. A closer look at Falanghina, a closer look at Aglianico, a closer look at a specific vineyard parcel, and—through the wine—a closer look at the Sannio region itself. Then there’s the personal story, which remains in the background but inevitably holds a special meaning for me.
When Vinoway was just getting started and it wasn’t easy to “convince” a company outside of Puglia to believe in the project, Libero Rillo decided to get on board. Not many more words are needed to tell the story. The years that have passed and Fontanavecchia’s longstanding presence in the Vinoway Selection Guide have given that decision a significance that perhaps even we couldn’t have imagined at the time.
Today, I prefer to think of that relationship in the same way I savor his Falanghina wines: without rushing, searching for the meaning of things in the details. Because wine teaches us that what matters most isn’t always what’s immediately apparent. Sometimes you have to wait, return to the glass, and pay closer attention.
And that’s when the nuances come to the fore. Those of a Falanghina. Those of a land. Those of a family. And those of a relationship that began many years ago, when everything was still yet to be built.
Fontanavecchia was there. Orazio had passed on the value of a story to his sons, and Libero and Giuseppe chose to build on it. And Libero, when Vinoway was just getting started, chose to believe in ours as well.
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