Italy · Molise

Di Majo Norante

Family estate in Campomarino, Molise, farming 123 hectares of Montepulciano, Aglianico, and Falanghina on the Adriatic coastal plain. The Aglianico Biorganic comes from a vineyard certified organic thirty years ago; the Contado Riserva ages three years with a year in small oak.

The producer

In 1968 the Di Majo family took ownership of land that had belonged to the Marquises Norante di Santa Cristina and kept the aristocratic name as their label. The estate sits in Campomarino, in the Ramitello district of Molise, a few kilometres from the Adriatic and just north of the Gargano promontory. At 123 hectares under vine, it is the dominant wine operation in this part of the region. Alessio Di Majo runs the estate today, continuing the work his father Luigi began, with Riccardo Cotarella consulting on winemaking.

The range is built around three varieties: Montepulciano and Aglianico for red, Falanghina for white. Aglianico appears in two forms. The Biorganic comes from the estate's oldest certified-organic plot, certified roughly thirty years ago before organic farming carried any commercial weight in southern Italy. The Contado Riserva draws from the Camarda vineyard at 200 metres altitude and spends three years ageing, one of them in barriques and tonneaux. Between them the two bottles trace the full arc of what Aglianico does in Molise: aromatic and direct in one glass, deep and aged in the other.

Known for

Aglianico in two expressions: the Biorganic from a thirty-year certified-organic plot, and the Contado Riserva from the Camarda vineyard with three years of ageing.

Notable facts

The story

The Vineyard Luigi Fenced Off

Sometime in the early 1990s, Luigi Di Majo fenced off one vineyard on the Campomarino estate and stopped using synthetic inputs. He applied for organic certification and got it. No other wine estate in Molise was doing the same thing at the time, and there was no obvious commercial reason to do it: organic certification carried no price premium in the Italian market then, and the extra labour cost was real. The vineyard stayed certified through the 1990s and into the 2000s. When Alessio Di Majo took over from his father, the plot was still there, still certified, still producing Aglianico. He made it the source of a named bottle. Today the Aglianico Biorganic carries that thirty-year-old certification on its label, and the vineyard that Luigi fenced off before the word organic meant anything in a wine shop is still the only source of that wine.

From the atlas

Di Majo Norante

At A Glance

Producer: Di Majo Norante Region: Molise, southern Italy Village: Campomarino, Ramitello district Grapes: Montepulciano, Aglianico, Falanghina Winemaker: Alessio Di Majo Consultant: Riccardo Cotarella Vineyards: 123 hectares Farming: Organic on select parcels; biological methods estate-wide Key bottles: Aglianico Biorganic, Contado Riserva, Molì Rosso, Molì Bianco

The Producer

In 1968 the Di Majo family took ownership of land that had belonged to the Marquises Norante di Santa Cristina and kept the aristocratic name as their label. The estate sits in Campomarino, in the Ramitello district of Molise, a few kilometres from the Adriatic coast and just north of the Gargano promontory. At 123 hectares under vine, Di Majo Norante is the dominant wine operation in this part of the region.

Alessio Di Majo runs the estate today, continuing the work his father Luigi began. Riccardo Cotarella consults on winemaking. The range is anchored by three varieties: Montepulciano and Aglianico for red, Falanghina for white. The Aglianico appears in two distinct bottles, one of them from a vineyard certified organic roughly thirty years ago, long before organic certification carried any commercial weight in this part of Italy.

Place

Molise is Italy's second-smallest region and one of its least visible in wine retail. It sits between Abruzzo to the north, Campania to the south, and the Adriatic to the east. Most of the region is hill and inland plateau; the coastal strip near Campomarino is lower and more influenced by sea air than the higher terrain to the west.

The Ramitello district, where the Di Majo Norante vineyards lie, sits at an elevation where the sea breeze moderates summer heat. That cooling effect preserves acidity in both red and white grapes, which matters most for the Aglianico: a variety that builds deep tannin and dark fruit in the south, and needs acidity to keep those elements from feeling heavy. Molise's Terra degli Osci IGT covers the estate's everyday range; the Aglianico bottles carry the DOC designation Molise.

Soil And Site

The Camarda vineyard, source of the Contado Riserva, sits at 200 metres altitude. The estate's oldest organic plot, now the source of the Aglianico Biorganic, is at lower elevation on the coastal plain. The soils across the estate are clay-rich, which slows drainage and forces vines to push roots deep, producing grapes with concentrated colour and body. The combination of clay and sea proximity is part of what gives the Aglianico here a softer tannin profile than the same variety planted further inland in Campania or Basilicata.

Story

Luigi Di Majo built the commercial estate through the 1970s and 1980s. The decision to plant Aglianico at serious scale was a long bet: the variety demands time in both vineyard and cellar before it shows what it is capable of, and the market for southern Italian reds outside Italy was thin.

Sometime in the early 1990s, Luigi made one small vineyard on the estate organic. Certification followed. No neighbouring estate was doing the same. The vineyard stayed organic, and a decade later it became the source of a named bottle: the Aglianico Biorganic. Alessio took over from Luigi and extended the biological approach across the full estate, adding solar power and purified estate water for irrigation. The Contado Riserva draws 100 percent Aglianico from the Camarda vineyard and ages for three years, one of them in barriques and tonneaux.

Vineyards And Cellar

The estate farms 123 hectares with biological methods throughout and certified organic on the Biorganic plot. Solar power and purified estate water reduce external inputs.

In the cellar, the two tiers of the range are made in genuinely different ways. The Molì wines are steel-only: the Molì Bianco undergoes twelve to twenty-four hours of skin contact before fermentation at a controlled 16 to 18 degrees Celsius, with complete malolactic fermentation softening any sharp edges. The Molì Rosso goes through a long maceration in steel vats, also with complete malolactic fermentation, then three months in bottle before release. That long maceration extracts colour and tannin from the Montepulciano while the Aglianico adds spice and structural weight.

The Contado Riserva and Aglianico Biorganic are handled differently. The Contado Riserva ages for three years total, one of them in barriques and tonneaux, which smooths the tannin and adds the cedar and black fruit complexity that Aglianico develops slowly in wood. The Biorganic is fermented and aged with the focus on preserving the aromatic intensity of the certified-organic fruit rather than adding oak character.

Wines

The range divides cleanly between an approachable everyday tier and a serious single-variety tier.

Molì Rosso (Terra degli Osci IGT): A blend of 80 percent Montepulciano and 20 percent Aglianico, made entirely in steel. Bright ruby red colour. The nose is fresh and fruity; the palate is full-bodied with a slightly bitter finish that comes from the Montepulciano's natural tannin grip. Straightforward and direct.

Molì Bianco (Terra degli Osci IGT): 100 percent Falanghina, made with skin contact and stainless steel fermentation. Straw yellow in the glass. Linden blossom on the nose. The palate has a smooth texture paired with citrus notes and pronounced mineral qualities.

Aglianico Biorganic (Molise DOC): 100 percent Aglianico from the estate's oldest certified-organic plot. Bright ruby red. Intense aromas of cherry, plum, and blackcurrant with rose and violet lift. Pepper, tobacco, and herbaceous notes on the palate. Dry, medium-bodied, with well-defined tannins that are integrated rather than hard. The organic farming gives the fruit a clarity and definition that reads clearly in the glass.

Contado Riserva (Molise DOC): 100 percent Aglianico from the Camarda vineyard at 200 metres. Three years of ageing, one in barriques and tonneaux. Ruby red with garnet edges. Ripe fruit, black cherry, and a soft, velvety palate that reflects both the altitude of the vineyard and the time in small oak. The estate's most complete red.

In The Glass

The Aglianico Biorganic opens with a nose that is more aromatic and lighter on its feet than the Contado: cherry, plum, and blackcurrant come first, then rose and violet, then a back note of pepper and dried herbs. In the mouth it is dry and medium-bodied, the tannins firm but knit tightly enough that they extend the finish without catching. The acidity holds the fruit forward.

The Contado Riserva is darker in register. Black cherry and ripe plum, the oak adding cedar and a slight smokiness without overwhelming the grape. The palate is fuller, the tannins rounder from three years of ageing, and the finish is long with a soft, warming quality that Aglianico develops when it has had time. Both bottles carry the coastal influence: better acidity and a slightly less severe tannin than you find in the same variety planted in the hotter interior of Campania.

The Molì Rosso is lighter and more immediately giving than either: fresh red fruit, a clean steel-made profile, and that slightly bitter finish characteristic of Montepulciano.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Aglianico Biorganic. It is 100 percent Aglianico from a certified-organic vineyard on the estate, and it shows what the grape does in Molise before oak ageing softens and deepens the picture. Cherry, plum, pepper, and violet on the nose; dry and medium-bodied in the mouth with tannins that are present but not punishing. The acidity keeps it alive across the whole palate. It is also the bottle with the clearest story behind it: a single vineyard, certified organic for thirty years, in a region where almost nobody was farming that way when the decision was made. The Contado Riserva is the deeper bottle, but the Biorganic is the one that explains the grape, the place, and the farm in one glass.

Anecdote

Sometime in the early 1990s, Luigi Di Majo fenced off one vineyard on the Campomarino estate and stopped using synthetic inputs. He applied for organic certification and got it. No other wine estate in Molise was doing the same thing at the time, and there was no obvious commercial reason to do it: organic certification carried no price premium in the Italian market then, and the extra labour cost was real. The vineyard stayed certified through the 1990s and into the 2000s. When Alessio Di Majo took over from his father, the plot was still there, still certified, still producing Aglianico. He made it the source of a named bottle. Today the Aglianico Biorganic carries that thirty-year-old certification on its label, and the vineyard that Luigi fenced off before the word organic meant anything in a wine shop is still the only source of that wine.

Final Word

Molise is one of the few Italian wine regions where a buyer arriving without preconceptions can still find something genuinely unexpected. Di Majo Norante has built the most substantial estate in the region's coastal strip and pointed it squarely at Aglianico, the grape that rewards patience most visibly. The Biorganic and the Contado Riserva are two different arguments for the same variety from the same farm, and between them they cover the range from aromatic and direct to deep and aged.

Sources

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