Wine Club: Island Time
At this point in the winter, as the sun begins lowering its head a little closer to our own bedtimes, and its rays warm the snow-covered hillsides a little longer before shadows chill packed powder back into ice, our minds inevitably turn toward one thought: I can’t wait to get out of here. Don’t get us wrong, March is a beautiful month in the Green Mountain State- with some of our favorite conditions for outdoor activities, but by this point, as we don our big coats and track muck-boot trails into our homes for the hundredth time---and with the promise of weekend get-aways and February trips to Florida or California cancelled due to continual lock-downs, we’re so SO ready for springtime and a sweet escape to somewhere warm.
We can’t take you away, unfortunately...but we can make the waiting a little easier to bear. So we’re headed (in our minds, and in these bottles) to the sunny island of Sicily to try some exceptional wines that’ll have you feeling like you can make it through the last of the winter doldrums. Salute, Crushers!
Cantina Marilina
Cantina Marilina ‘Sikele,’ Grecanico
When a winemaker purchases 60 acres of some of the best viticultural land available, and said winemaker has been working with producers in and around his home for most of his life producing some of the best wine of the region, and then decides--- “You know who should take over this whole production for me... my two daughters,” then you know you’ve got a Cork wine on your hands. After all, Cork is all about the power of daughters coming together to produce something pretty special;( just ask Danielle and Katie Nichols (owner and GM), who, by this writer’s account, are doing a pretty spectacular job.) So with Daughter-Sister-Women power in mind, we happily present Sikele, a wine by Cantina Marilina. Marilina and Federica took over from the father, the legend, Angelo Paterno, and using the principles of biodynamic farming, native varietal cultivation, and low-intervention production methods in the cellar, have consistently created approachable and representative wines from their sunny corner of Southwest Sicily which we are always exceptionally proud to showcase. Their ‘Sikele’ is an orange wine, produced as grecanico macerates with its skins for 13 hours and then ferments to completion in concrete tanks. Stone fruit, dried apricot, and sea spray dominate the palate. Refreshing, juicy, complex, and charcuterie’s best friend. Chill and enjoy.
Nicola & Guido in the vineyards
Elios ‘Glou Glou,’ Nerello Mascalese
Two friends, Nicola and Guido, a computer engineer and an oenologist, walk into an olive and grape vineyard. No, this isn’t the start to a joke, (although that would be a good one, I’m sure,) this is the start of Elios, a project dedicated to showcasing Sicilian terroir and authentic winemaking. Working with organic principles, Nicola and Guido focused on producing fruit not for sale to the bulk wine market which heretofore has dominated the Sicilian wine landscape, including their families’ holdings, but instead investing in the value of their own estate-grown product. They started keeping bees and hand-harvesting their fruit in the hopes of creating accessible and delicious wines with a youthful flair. Their “glou glou” is a Nerello Mascalese which they describe as wine you’d have as a “snack.” Chillable and gluggable, this is the perfect example of a crushable red that we want to drink all summer long. Oh what’s that, it’s not summer yet. It is when you pop the cork on this savory, fresh, mineral, and juicy bad boy.
RAW CLUB
Sometime ago, in a different lifetime (basically), Matt Mollo of SelectioNaturel wines came up to Cork to do a tasting. He dashed between tables pouring incredible Italian wines from his portfolio of natural producers and up-and-coming oenological superstars. One winery in particular, Lamoresca, a project by Filippo Rizzo and his wife Nancy from Sicily, was being generously splashed into glasses- white, rosato, orange, reds- as guests gleefully asked where they could get more of the stuff. “Welcome to the Lamo Louge!” boasted Matt, grabbing chilled bottles from our fridge faster than we could re-stock. We rolled into dinner service with half-poured bottles leftover, decisions to be made later about who would get to take which one home with them.
While the Lamo Lounge has unfortunately had to close without a projected date for reopening, we look forward to a time when we can safely and freely pack the house and host incredible tastings of our favorite wines, with our favorite people. Until then, we invite you to open your bottles with the spirit of groovy 1970’s sunken conversation pits and smoky jazz playing to start your own “Lamo Lounge.”
Lamoresca is worthy of such ado, we assure you. This winery sits alone in the southernmost region of Sicily, at 450m above sea level. The Rizzos trained with Mt. Etna’s legendary winemaker Frank Cornelisson after settling in the region and buying up a scant 4 hectare of vines. Filipo and Nancy have built their estate from the ground up, nurturing old-vine plantings of native varietials and rare breeds scarcely seen off-island. Everything is entirely chemical-and-pesticide free, fermented with naturally-occurring yeast, and without the aid of temperature-controlled tanks. This is dedication and hard work and tradition, all coming to the fore in bottlings of exceptionally unique and terroir-expressive wines. To taste Lamoresca is to taste Siciliy, the way Sicilians intend you to. It is both history and innovation, a guarantee of quality from tried-and-true practices with an eye towards an evolving ecological relationship with the land and its products.
Filippo Rizzo
The bianco is 100% Vermentino di Corso, one of those aforementioned rare varietals, fermented with a short skin-contact maceration and aged in concrete and large, neutral oak. Mature orchard fruits and grainy stone interlace in this finessed and expressive bottling.
The rosso is a 50/50 Frappato and Nero d’Avola blend, fermented separately and then re-joined in cement tanks to age. Light but mineral, complex and alluring, sun-baked but lean and tense.