Luigi Maffini

Italy, Campania

Luigi Maffini's vineyards are on the coast of Campania, south of Naples, across the bay from Positano, and planted with the local grapes, Fiano for the whites and Aglianico for the reds. While the family's first vines were planted in the seventies, the real beginning of this winery dates from 1996.

Luigi and his wife Raffaella are both graduates of Naples university in agricultural sciences. Luigi specialised in viticulture and winemaking. Ten years elapsed between our first tasting of his wines and getting Luigi 'on board', but he has now been with L&S since 2009.

One of the things we love about these wines is how they completely overturn expectations of Cilento. Rather than relying solely on the warm coastal climate, the estate also has farms higher altitude, rock-strewn vineyards around Giungano, where cooler conditions and limestone-rich soils bring freshness, precision and a wonderful mineral character. Older vineyards nearer the sea add generosity and depth, giving the wines a lovely balance of ripe fruit, energy and structure. It's a combination that makes Maffini one of the region's, butr also one of Italy's most exciting producers.

Raffaella and Luigi run the vineyards organically, and share the land with their two children and three dogs, as well as hares, foxes, hedgehogs, hawks and wild boar, with which they are happy to live in peace. Because of the two vineyard sites, (Castellabate and Giungano) some of the wines are DOC Cilento and some DOC Paestum.

You can read more about the estate on Sarah Marsh's blog 'The English Nose'

Luigi Maffini provides a vivid demonstration of how misleading broad assumptions about Cilento can be. The area is often associated with lower elevations near the sea and ripe, generous Aglianicos, but Maffini is situated in Giungano, where vineyards form an amphitheater between 300 and 350 meters in some of the rockiest terrain I have encountered in Italy. The soils are composed of clay and limestone, and the slopes are steep. Standing among the fractured stones makes the striking mineral intensity of Maffini’s wines immediately understandable. The family’s historic parcels in Castellabate lie closer to the sea on sandy loam soils. This is also where the older Aglianico vines used for Cenito are located. The two locations allow Maffini to combine depth of fruit with freshness, mineral definition and structure. The top bottlings, including the Fiano Pietraincatenata and Aglianico Siopè, remain consistently impressive. The more accessible Fiano Kratos and Aglianico Kleos also offer an excellent combination of quality and value, particularly in 2024. The Cenito shows the warmth of southern Campania with polish and richness while remaining beautifully balanced. Eric Guido, www.vinous.com  (Aug 2026)


Cilento presents a landscape that is remarkably different from Taurasi and Avellino. Many vineyards are within sight of the coast, yet with mountains just a few kilometers to the east. This region has shown that it, too, can create long-aging Aglianicos of depth and power and Fianos with mineral intensity and energy to spare. Luigi Maffini has mastered both of these categories. Maffini, along with his wife, Raffaella Gallo, produces what I consider a modern-day take on Campania classics. The richness and warm-climate fruit of Cilento marry a polished sheen of refinement and enriching minerality that adds a lovely contrast. Vintage after vintage, the Rosso Kleos and Fiano Kratos (I reviewed the 2022—the current vintage—in April 2023) represent two of the best values from the region today, while the Aglianico Cenito and Siopé are amongst the best Taurasi has to offer. While there are new oak imprints within both wines, the integration should continue to blend beautifully as the wines mature. Finding the higher-end Siopé can be difficult in some markets, especially in the 2019 vintage, where Luigi Maffini really outdid himself. Eric Guido, www.vinous.com  (May 2024)


Luigi Maffini, an estate that excels at producing racy, radiant wines, packed full of character, and with the potential to excel in the cellar. Eric Guido, www.vinous.com  (Jan 2022)


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