Cantine Olivella, Catalanesca del Monte Somma, 'Kata'

One sip of today's 2025 Cantine Olivella "Katà" is enough to understand that Catalanesca deserves a far more prominent place in the conversation about Italy's great native white grapes. Grown high on the slopes of Monte Somma, the ancient northern flank of the Somma-Vesuvius volcanic complex,this rare variety has called the area home for centuries. And when it's harvested from ancient, ungrafted vines rooted in deep volcanic sand at high elevation, as it is here, the results are nothing short of extraordinary. Intensely aromatic, texturally generous, and mineral in the most literal, tactile sense of the word, the wine layers ripe apricot, crisp pear, yellow apple, and wild herbs before finishing with a long, salty echo of volcanic stone. This is not simply an unfamiliar grape made well; it is a vivid expression of one of Italy's most extraordinary agricultural landscapes, and one of its most singular, overlooked native varieties.

Catalanesca is inseparable from Monte Somma. Local tradition holds that the grape arrived from Catalonia during the Aragonese period in the fifteenth century, although the exact details have inevitably become entangled with legend. What is certain is that the variety found an unusually sympathetic home in the sandy volcanic soils surrounding Sant’Anastasia, where it developed a distinctive combination of perfume, ripeness, freshness, and savory mineral character. For generations Catalanesca was valued primarily as a table grape, and only comparatively recently was it formally recognized for commercial wine production. Cantine Olivella was among the growers most committed to preserving and elevating it, treating Catalanesca not as a rural curiosity but as a variety capable of conveying the identity of Monte Somma with unusual precision.

The estate itself is based in Sant’Anastasia, within Vesuvius National Park, and takes its name from the historic Olivella spring descending from Monte Somma. Near that spring, archaeologists discovered part of an ancient Roman wine vessel bearing the name “Sextus Catius Festus,” a connection to the area’s deep history of viticulture that the winery adopted as its emblem. Today, Cantine Olivella farms approximately twelve hectares distributed among Sant’Anastasia, Pollena Trocchia, and Somma Vesuviana. The vineyards are cultivated organically, using green manure, organic fertilization, and extensive manual work. The loose black sands and lapilli drain rapidly and create conditions in which many vines can remain on their own roots, giving “Katà” a directness and purity that are central to its identity.

The winemaking is admirably restrained. Catalanesca ripens late and is harvested by hand during October in small crates, after which the whole clusters undergo a gentle pressing. Only the first, most delicate portion of the juice is selected. Fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks, preserving the grape’s floral and orchard-fruit character, and the wine then remains in steel on its fine lees for approximately six months before further refinement in bottle. There is no oak to sweeten the fruit or soften the wine’s volcanic edges. The lees provide breadth and a silky mid-palate, while the stainless steel maintains freshness, aromatic definition, and the savory tension that makes Catalanesca so compelling.

Serve the 2025 “Katà” at approximately 50–54°F in a medium-sized white-wine stem. Pale straw with subtle golden reflections, it opens with aromas of red apple, pear, white peach, apricot, citrus zest, chamomile, broom flower, and a faint suggestion of incense. The palate is dry and supple, with ripe stone fruit and cantaloupe-like richness held in check by bright acidity and a persistent salty, mineral impression. Its ideal companion is Scialatielli con frutti di mare. The wine mirrors the dish’s maritime freshness, while its volcanic savor and gently rounded texture give surprising depth to one of Campania’s most elemental combinations.