Mortellito Rosso 'Cala Niuru'
Val di Noto > Sicily > IT
Frappato/Nero d’Avola, 2022
Dario Serrentino makes deliciously versatile wines from all over Sicily, but his flagship wines are released under the Mortellito label focusing on fruit from his home in Val di Noto, in the corner of Sicily that lies at the same latitudes as North Africa’s arid desert climate. Its vineyard sare a few kilometers from the coast, with grooves of ancient olive and almonds trees breaking the wind off the sea. Abandoned and still working fishing ports dot the landscape. This young vine blend with native grapes, includes the herbal Frappato, and spicy-sour bush vine Nero d’Avola. Drinking it is akin to a dive into the nearby Ionian sea on a hot summer day. Certified organic.
Val di Noto > Sicily > IT
Frappato/Nero d’Avola, 2022
Dario Serrentino makes deliciously versatile wines from all over Sicily, but his flagship wines are released under the Mortellito label focusing on fruit from his home in Val di Noto, in the corner of Sicily that lies at the same latitudes as North Africa’s arid desert climate. Its vineyard sare a few kilometers from the coast, with grooves of ancient olive and almonds trees breaking the wind off the sea. Abandoned and still working fishing ports dot the landscape. This young vine blend with native grapes, includes the herbal Frappato, and spicy-sour bush vine Nero d’Avola. Drinking it is akin to a dive into the nearby Ionian sea on a hot summer day. Certified organic.
Val di Noto > Sicily > IT
Frappato/Nero d’Avola, 2022
Dario Serrentino makes deliciously versatile wines from all over Sicily, but his flagship wines are released under the Mortellito label focusing on fruit from his home in Val di Noto, in the corner of Sicily that lies at the same latitudes as North Africa’s arid desert climate. Its vineyard sare a few kilometers from the coast, with grooves of ancient olive and almonds trees breaking the wind off the sea. Abandoned and still working fishing ports dot the landscape. This young vine blend with native grapes, includes the herbal Frappato, and spicy-sour bush vine Nero d’Avola. Drinking it is akin to a dive into the nearby Ionian sea on a hot summer day. Certified organic.
Blend: 75% Frappato and 25% Nero d’Avola
Soils: limestone
ABV: 12.5%
The Story: Owner Dario Serrentino has always worked on the family farm in one form or another (his heirloom almonds were actually his first love). He changed careers from social worker and part-time farmer to full-time vignaiolo with his first bottling in 2014. He’s always enjoyed the contrasts of this coastal growing area, which he calls‘a desert next to the beach.’ Over the years, lucky for us, he’s learned to coax extremely elegant wines from this receding coast of limestone, which, he says, is‘the magic to produce wines with tension, freshness, and complex salinity.’ In Dario’s best vintages, his rosso and bianco wines have a tapering svelte finish, cool and salt-dusted. There’s never been any chemical interventions in the vineyards, and there’s an intentional hands-off approach in the cellar, with a minimal amount of sulphur added at bottling.
Personality: Combining the freshness and juiciness of the Frappato grape to the dark fruited, earthy notes of the Nero d'Avola grape, this chillable red offers red berry aromas laced with herbal nuance and fine tannins.
Harmony: Look to local fare when pairing with indigenous grapes; local Sicilian vegetable dishes like caponata or a plate of pasta al pesto rosso (sun-dried tomatoes, toasted almonds, olive oil, garlic, salt) to pair with this fresh beauty.