Farewell Antoine, King of Fiano

2015 doesn't seem to be a fortunate year in some respects – we have lost many artists, among them Pino Daniele and Francesco Rosi. Today the wine world also mourns, mourns for Antoine Gaita, who passed away this morning at just sixty years of age.

To Antoine and his wife Maria Diamante, with whom he founded the winery in 1996, we owe so much – and so does Fiano di Avellino, which captured the attention of many thanks to the longevity of his productions. An innovator and astute "borrower" of good ideas from others, he was among the first to release his Fiano a full year after the harvest, giving the wine time to soften its acidity and achieve greater balance; the use of oak for whites, then the return to steel. We will miss Antoine and his passion for innovation… Artists, however – and Antoine was one of them – never truly die, because they leave an indelible mark through their works and the memories we can attach to them. In this regard, Antoine's wines, given their ability to age, will continue to keep him alive, just as the memories each of us associates with the aromas and flavors born of his labor. "The vineyard is the mediation between the soil and the bottle. The ability of a good winegrower must be to transfer the terroir into the glass, because that is something no one can take from us." Farewell Antoine – your work will live on in the bottles you have left us, bottles we will open in the decades to come, certain we will find you again: charged with energy and character. The funeral will take place tomorrow, Friday the 16th, at 10 a.m. at the church of Maria Addolorata in Montefredane.