Wine Arcana

Grape

Forastera

Forastera is a white grape associated with Ischia, off the coast of Campania. It appears both in island blends and in wines bottled under its own name. Alongside Biancolella, it offers a way to explore the island's white wines through their component grapes.

The Lazio agricultural agency ARSIAL also documents Forastera in the Pontine Islands, tracing its introduction there to settlers from Ischia in the late nineteenth century. Its profile describes relatively loose bunches with thin skins, a preference for loose, less fertile soils, and susceptibility to powdery mildew and botrytis. That island connection extends the grape's regional story beyond Ischia itself.1. ARSIAL, Agrobiodiversità: vitigni, “Forastera b.,” p. 33.

Ischia's hillside whites

Casa D'Ambra's varietal Forastera comes from vineyards in Forio, Lacco Ameno and Serrara Fontana. The producer records elevations of 400–500 metres, low-trained vines and hand harvesting in September. Its wine is entirely Forastera, fermented under temperature control and matured in stainless steel. The estate describes stone-fruit aromas and a dry, almond-like finish.

These vineyards complicate a simple picture of a hot seaside wine region. An island can contain substantial differences in altitude, exposure and access. The height of a site is part of its growing environment, while the resulting wine also reflects when the grapes were picked and how they were handled.

Forastera also contributes to D'Ambra's Biancolella blend. Comparing a blend with a separately bottled Forastera gives the drinker different information: the former shows how local grapes work together, while the latter offers a clearer view of one variety under that producer's conditions.

Continuing investment in the grape

Costa delle Parracine supplies a second contemporary example. Its 2024 Forastera technical sheet identifies a vineyard at Forio, at 300 metres, with Guyot-trained vines and four months of vinification and maturation in steel. The estate takes its name from the dry-stone walls that support the island's vineyard terraces.

Both examples emphasize a dry white without wood maturation. That choice allows fruit, fermentation and the wine's acid balance to shape the immediate impression. It also places Forastera within a living island wine culture: continued cultivation, maintained terraces and named bottlings give a small regional grape a reason to remain in the vineyard.

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