Italiano
The Sea in a Glass
The San Lorenzo vineyard faces the sea, only 700m away, and its vines are caressed by its brackish breezes. It is situated in the southeast corner of Sicily, in the province of Ragusa, in the district of Pachino, an area known for its tomatoes as well as being the homeland of Nero d’Avola grapes.
And Nero d’Avola is their standard-bearer wine of the Gulfi winery. The estate is owned by Vita Catania and was set up in 1996 as an organic enterprise. Its style is Burgundy-esque withe grapes from different plots fermented and aged separately to produce true ‘cru’ wines, six in all, which are each 100% Nero d’Avola, from their NeroBufalessj to NeroMaccarj. Needless to say, the enologist is someone who knows Sicily and albarello-training very well, whether the vines be climbing Mt Etna or sinking their roots into the sand.
What follows is a mini-vertical tastings of two of their wines, NeroJbleo and NeroSanlorè. Although made with the same type of grape and similar winemaking methods, they are very different from each other. The grapes for the first come from the area of Chiaramonte Gulfi dalla Vigna Costa, the most spread-out in the zone, four hectares in size at an altitude of 420 meters and a density of 8,900 vine per hectare. The 2.5–hectare vineyard for NeroSanlorè, on the other hand, is more exposed to the sea and has a soil of sand and brown clay. The density here is 7,000 vines per hectare. These two wines have personality and while sons of the same mother have very different temperaments. One is trim and sunny, the other bold and meatier.
