Santa Tresa

Feudo di Santa Tresa’s 35 hectares (86 acres) of vineyards spread out within the heart of a triangle outlined by the village of Roccazzo and the towns of Acate and Vittoria. Massimo Maggio, also enologist at Vittoria’s Maggio Vini winery, and Stefano Girelli, a wine entrepreneur from Northern Italy, began this project in 2001.  The soil is classic terra rossa, sandy red ferrous soil covering limestone rock.  Comprising a villa built in 1697, a one hundred year-old palmento, and a well dedicated to Saint Teresa (shortened in Sicilian to Santa Tresa), this biologically farmed vineyard produces delicate and elegant red and white wines.  The 2008 Cerasuolo di Vittoria, the most important appellation wine of the Vittoria area, that I tasted recently was pale reddish-brown in color with a delicate nose of red fruits and underbrush. Astringency, bitterness, and sourness danced with delicacy and finesse on the palate. The wine was fully mature, yet remained refreshing, the kind of wine that invites rather than challenges, that stays in the background of a meal rather than dominates it. Enjoy it with a delicate morsel of roast chicken and even meaty fish.

As is the case with most Cerasuolo di Vittoria wines, it is 60% to 70% Nero d’Avola filled out with Frappato, a red grape native to the area.  What makes this wine so delicate and easy-to-drink? Frappato makes a paler, less dense in the mouth, and faster-to-mature wine than Nero d’Avola.  The sandy soil of the area reduces the pigmentation and tannic structure of the mature grape skins. Furthermore, after the fermentation, Massimo Maggio matured the wine in neutral containers rather than new oak barrels where it could pick up wood aromas and more astringency and bitterness. 

If you want to learn more about Feudo di Santa Tresa, visit the winery website, www.santatresa.it.  It is one of my favorites. With Sicilian folksongs and the sunlit countryside in the background, Girelli, speaking in easy-to-understand English, and Maggio, in Sicilian with English subtitles, form a duet. In tones, words and phrases, that evoke the balance and humility of their Cerasuolo di Vittoria, they tell the story of the estate, how the grapes are grown, and how the wine is made.

Massimo Maggio observing roots of Favino plant, used to fix nitrogen in soil

Pithy Wine

COS vinifies and matures Pithos Bianco (Pithos white), made from Grecanico, in 400 liter clay amphoras dug into the ground. Contrary to standard practice for modern white wine production, fermentation occurs in contact with the skins. The wine is bottled in the spring after the harvest. In order to improve stability, it is lightly sulfited before bottling. COS also produces a Pithos red, a Nero d’Avola-Frappato blend.

I recently sampled a 2010 COS Pithos Bianco ($38 retail in the Boston market). It was copper-yellow tinted. I smelled untoasted nuts, pear, and musk. Although there were smells recalling old apple juice, which I associate with oxidation, these smells did not increase with aeration as would normally be the case in a wine in rapid deterioration.  Though dry and moderately low in alcohol, the wine was slightly more viscous perhaps indicating a high level of glycerol. It was savory, pleasantly bitter and slightly astringent.  I look forward someday to enjoying it with a simply roasted whole chicken. Appreciation of this wine demands a mind open to exploring unconventional flavors.