Where is Cantine Benvenuto?

Cantine Benvenuto is in Francavilla Angitola, in the province of Vibo Valentia, in southern Calabria. The estate is on the Tyrrhenian side, a short drive inland from the Costa degli Dei. The vineyards lie inside the Parco Regionale delle Serre, on granite soils of volcanic origin.

Can you visit the winery?

Yes. The estate runs guided visits. Each visit includes a walk in the vineyard, a cellar tour and a tasting of the estate wines with local Calabrian products. Groups of six or more can book from Monday to Saturday. Book by phone, by WhatsApp or through the contact form on cantinebenvenuto.it/visita-la-cantina.

What is the Cantine Benvenuto Zibibbo?

It is a dry white made only from Zibibbo, a grape also called Moscato di Alessandria. The vines grow on granite soils of volcanic origin inside the Parco Regionale delle Serre. Cantine Benvenuto was the first estate in Calabria allowed to bottle Zibibbo as IGP Calabria. For several years it was the only one.

Are Cantine Benvenuto wines organic?

Yes. The estate farms all its vineyards organically. Grapes are picked by hand into small crates. In the cellar the team steps in as little as possible. Eric Asimov noted the organic farming in The New York Times in 2020.

Which wines does Cantine Benvenuto produce?

The core IGP Calabria range has three wines. Mare is the white, Terra the red and Celeste the rosato. The flagship dry white is the Benvenuto Zibibbo. There is also an Orange wine, a passito called Alchimia, and two sparkling Zibibbos, Sughero Storto and Mishalai. The estate grows native grapes: Zibibbo, Greco Nero, Magliocco Canino and Malvasia.

Why is Calabrian Zibibbo unusual?

Zibibbo is also called Moscato di Alessandria. The grape is linked above all with Pantelleria, a Sicilian island just off the Tunisian coast. There it makes sweet wines under DOC Pantelleria. Dry Zibibbo from mainland Calabria had no formal regional name of its own. It was almost absent from the market. That changed when Cantine Benvenuto secured IGP Calabria approval.

Cantine Benvenuto

Cantine Benvenuto is a small estate in Francavilla Angitola, just inland from Calabria's Costa degli Dei. Founder Giovanni Celeste Benvenuto came back to his family's land in the province of Vibo Valentia. He built the estate around the revival of one grape: Zibibbo. Winning the right to bottle it as IGP Calabria took more than ten years. He was the first producer in the region to do so. In 2020 that work reached The New York Times. Eric Asimov named the estate's Zibibbo among the ten best Italian whites under twenty-five dollars.

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Cantine Benvenuto vineyards in the Parco Regionale delle Serre, Calabria

About Cantine Benvenuto

Giovanni Celeste Benvenuto was born in Tagliacozzo, in the Marsica area of Abruzzo. He spent his summers in Calabria with his father's family. As a teenager he decided his future was in vines. He studied at an agricultural boarding school in the Chieti hills. Then he moved south to revive the abandoned vineyards his grandfather had farmed near Francavilla Angitola.

The estate's defining wine is Zibibbo, a grape also known as Moscato di Alessandria. Most people link it with Pantelleria, off the Sicilian coast. Benvenuto wanted to bottle it on the Calabrian mainland instead. He worked with the regional authorities for more than a decade to get Zibibbo approved under IGP Calabria. For several vintages his was the only estate in Calabria allowed to use that name.

The vineyards sit inside the Parco Regionale delle Serre, on granite soils of volcanic origin. Geologists call this block of rock the Blocco Calabro. The sites are high, and both the Tyrrhenian and Ionian coasts are close. That gives the wine a tighter, more mineral profile than the sun-drenched version from Pantelleria. The grape's orange-blossom and citrus scent stays.

The flagship is the Benvenuto Zibibbo, a dry white. Around it sit Mare, a white, Terra, a red, and Celeste, a rosato, all IGP Calabria. The cellar also makes Alchimia, a passito from Zibibbo, and an orange wine with long skin contact. Two sparklings, Sughero Storto and Mishalai, complete the range. Native grapes such as Greco Nero, Magliocco Canino and Malvasia grow alongside the Zibibbo. All the vineyards are farmed organically, and the grapes are picked by hand into small crates.

In 2020 Eric Asimov wrote about the wine in The New York Times. He called it a fragrant white from a region almost no one linked with the grape. That article turned a one-person revival into a reference point for southern Calabrian whites.

Editorial · ItalianWines.co.uk

Plate I · CALABRIA

Cantine Benvenuto on the Calabria wine atlas

89815, Francavilla Angitola, Vibo Valentia, Italy

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Visit & Experiences

1 bookable experience at Cantine Benvenuto

1 tasting, checked by our editors.

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Tastings 1 bookable Tours 1 bookable

Accommodation Not available

Booking Walk-ins welcome

Tasting & Tour

Vineyard, cellar and tasting visit

Guided walk through the Zibibbo vineyards inside the Parco Regionale delle Serre, followed by a cellar tour and a tasting of the estate range paired with local Calabrian products. Groups from six guests, Monday to Saturday, with optional lunch.

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Wines from Cantine Benvenuto

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cantinebenvenuto.it/

89815, Francavilla Angitola, Vibo Valentia, Italy

+39 3317292517

[email protected]

Common questions

Cantine Benvenuto is in Francavilla Angitola, in the province of Vibo Valentia, in southern Calabria. The estate is on the Tyrrhenian side, a short drive inland from the Costa degli Dei. The vineyards lie inside the Parco Regionale delle Serre, on granite soils of volcanic origin.
Yes. The estate runs guided visits. Each visit includes a walk in the vineyard, a cellar tour and a tasting of the estate wines with local Calabrian products. Groups of six or more can book from Monday to Saturday. Book by phone, by WhatsApp or through the contact form on cantinebenvenuto.it/visita-la-cantina.
It is a dry white made only from Zibibbo, a grape also called Moscato di Alessandria. The vines grow on granite soils of volcanic origin inside the Parco Regionale delle Serre. Cantine Benvenuto was the first estate in Calabria allowed to bottle Zibibbo as IGP Calabria. For several years it was the only one.
Yes. The estate farms all its vineyards organically. Grapes are picked by hand into small crates. In the cellar the team steps in as little as possible. Eric Asimov noted the organic farming in The New York Times in 2020.
The core IGP Calabria range has three wines. Mare is the white, Terra the red and Celeste the rosato. The flagship dry white is the Benvenuto Zibibbo. There is also an Orange wine, a passito called Alchimia, and two sparkling Zibibbos, Sughero Storto and Mishalai. The estate grows native grapes: Zibibbo, Greco Nero, Magliocco Canino and Malvasia.
Zibibbo is also called Moscato di Alessandria. The grape is linked above all with Pantelleria, a Sicilian island just off the Tunisian coast. There it makes sweet wines under DOC Pantelleria. Dry Zibibbo from mainland Calabria had no formal regional name of its own. It was almost absent from the market. That changed when Cantine Benvenuto secured IGP Calabria approval.

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