Joaquin, founded in 1999 by Raffaele Pagano, embodies a legacy of winemaking passed down from generation to generation. Their estate, located in Montefalcione, embodies their dedication to terroir-driven wines.
For Raffaele, each harvest is a new project and therefore a new, unique wine, in which the characteristics of the terroir must absolutely be done justice. Raffaele’s philosophy revolves around individual vineyard management to express the unique terroir of Lapio and Paternopoli, where Fiano and Aglianico thrive. Their small plots produce high-quality grapes that are carefully processed to create distinctive wines.
Remarkably, Lapio's elevated position at the highest points of Irpinia offers optimal conditions for growing Fiano, while the calcareous and clayey soils near Paternopoli are ideal for Aglianico. They also manage a historic vineyard on Capri, where indigenous varieties such as Biancolella, Falanghina, Greco, and Ciunchesa are grown.
The fact that the wines of the Joaquin house are able to bring out the special characteristics of the harvest year so clearly is mainly due to the fact that the grapes from each plot are fermented separately in small steel tanks. The wines are then aged in locally made tonneaux barrels made of chestnut or acacia wood. Barriques are deliberately not used for this classic style of wine, because, according to Raffaele, the typical aromas of the grape variety should not be overwhelmed by aggressive wood notes.
The first harvest took place in 2006 and the resulting wine was named “IVIAGGI”, a name that represented the beginning of a journey and told the story of an Aglianico from the Paternopoli vineyard, vinified as a white wine. In 2007, the Fiano grape was bottled for the first time, and from that moment on, the iconic orange label JQN 203 was born, which became the symbolic color of the vineyard and would only become “Piante a Lapio” in 2011.
The first Taurasi was produced in 2009 and to date only four vintages have been released under the name “Taurasi Riserva della Società”: the 2009, the 2010, the 2015, and the 2016, which is an indication of the extreme quality sought in the wine.
The vineyard's most important label, the Taurasi Riserva Venerabile Confraternita della B.M., on the other hand, was only produced for the 2009 vintage and will be available again with the 2015 vintage in 2025, after a long aging period of 10 years.
Although the vineyard is relatively young, the estate has incorporated vintages and plots year after year and built its reputation, allowing it to release limited editions and unique pieces of great value. Each vintage and each label embodies new projects whose endpoint we do not know, only the starting point: the quality of the raw material, the original territory, and the vintage that characterizes them. Vinifying individual plots has allowed us to pay attention to every small detail. Only tonneaux made from national oak, local chestnut, and acacia wood of second or third passage are used for the fermentation and aging of the signature wines.
Joaquin owns a total of 5 hectares and produces about 13,000 bottles annually. Joaquin aims to become an icon in Italy and around the world for fine artisanal wines with long evolution potential. To achieve this goal, Joaquin works in full respect of the land, using precision viticulture supported by high-level technology in the vineyard rather than in the cellar. They choose to elevate the grape varieties that have always been used in this wine region, Fiano and Aglianico, and to continue an oenological tradition with historical roots firmly anchored in the territory. The main idea behind the vineyard’s project, which makes the Joaquin brand recognizable, is to enhance the expressiveness of wines that are the faithful result of a slow process of evolution in which the human hand accompanies and guides, but never chooses the direction or the final destination.
