Calabria does not disappoint again this year, a region that until a few decades ago gave the impression of not being able to awaken from the sleepy oblivion to which it had accustomed us for decades. Yet something was brewing beneath the surface, the first signs of which actually date back a dozen years ago when the so-called Cirò Boys began to be talked about, a group of young producers who sought, through traditional winemaking and sustainable agriculture, to draw attention to a historic wine like Cirò. Although commendable and partly successful, the movement remained confined to the Cirò denomination alone. What has happened and what we have been experiencing in recent years, however, is quite different: a real revolution, green moreover, involving the entire region, from north to south, and giving rise in a short time to dozens of new realities that not only produce wine, often reclaiming traditional indigenous grape varieties, but above all have an idea of quality.
Over the years, we have told stories of women and men who have embarked on life projects, perhaps leaving other professions, to return to Calabria to cultivate vines, to take up the dream of their parents and grandparents interrupted by the mass emigration that affected the region from the post-war period until recently. The results are surprising: never have so many Calabrian companies been reviewed by our guide, never have so many wines reached our finals, while year after year the quality level of the wines continues to rise.
The best Cirò
Cirò is the best-known wine from Calabria, even abroad. It can be called Classico when the grapes come from vineyards in the municipality of Cirò Marina, while the production of Doc wine also includes the territories of the Municipalities of Crucoli and Melissa.
Cirò Rosso and Rosato are produced almost exclusively from gaglioppo grapes (rarely are trebbiano toscano and greco grapes used, which in the vineyard must not exceed 5% of the total). The Bianco is obtained from greco grapes associated with trebbiano toscano grapes up to a maximum of 10%. The latter is a wine that gives its best in the first year, paired with dishes based on swordfish, tuna, and grilled fish in general. The Rosato, characterized by an intensely vinous, pleasant, and delicate aroma, pairs well with white meats, but also with lamb and kid. The Rosso is an excellent wine for roasts together with the Riserva, which with aging becomes increasingly velvety and favors game. The color is ruby red, the taste is dry, full-bodied, warm, harmonious as befits a great wine.
Here we focus on the 10 Cirò wines, between reds and whites, which have been awarded Tre Bicchieri in one case and Due Bicchchieri Rossi in the other cases, having reached the finals during the tastings for the Gambero Rosso Vini d'Italia 2024 guide
Cirò Rosso
The Cirò Duca Sanfelice 2021 by Librandi, Tre Bicchieri once again, is an exceptional synthesis of gaglioppo and its terroir. Complex and multifaceted on the nose, speaking of cherry, flowers, and spices, round, full-bodied, and enveloping on the palate. Nicodemo Librandi, who passed away while the Vini d'Italia guide was in preparation, was together with his brother Antonio the founder of the company. Now it is their children Paolo and Raffaele and their grandchildren Teresa, Daniela, Walter, and Francesco, who have been working in the company for years, who passionately and competently carry on the founders' mission. In a region where in recent years there has been a real revolution and many new wineries have come to the fore, Librandi wines remain a certainty of very high quality.
The Cirò Rosso RCS 2021 by Cerminara is extremely pleasant, broad, and layered on the nose, with fruity aromas, undergrowth, and humus, savory and taut on the palate with well-endowed tannins. This small Cirò winery, which year after year continues to surprise us with the high quality of its wines, should be kept under observation.
The Cirò Rosso Riserva Dalla Terra 2016, varietal and territorial, is elegant in its fruity and balsamic tones on the nose, with a taut palate well-paced by a lively acidity. The wines of Tenuta del Conte, owned by the brothers Mariangela, Giuseppe, and Caterina Parrilla, fourth generation winemakers in Cirò, return to the guide after several years of absence, and with more than good and encouraging results. Thanks to Mariangela's decision, since 2010 the company has been entirely under organic agriculture, without the use of organic fertilizers but with green manure and cover cropping, using only copper and sulfur for treatments, while fermentations take place spontaneously without the use of selected yeasts. The 15 hectares of vineyards are spread across four different areas of Cirò Marina, all quite close to the sea: Terre Rosse, Marinetto, Ponta, and Almeria.
The Cirò Rosso Riserva Colli del Mancuso 2020 by Ippolito 1845 smells of black fruits, violet, and a well-balanced oak contribution, fresh and juicy on the palate with well-integrated tannins to the fruit. It is now the cousins Vincenzo, Gianluca, and Paolo Ippolito who run this winery, one of the oldest in the region and probably in Italy: it has been owned by their family since 1845, when it was founded by their great-great-grandfather Vincenzo. Their excellent results, both commercial and qualitative, achieved in the last decade, are due to their work: many investments have been made to modernize the winery and the vineyard, as well as the label graphics, now much more in line with the times. The entire range of wines tasted this year is definitely convincing, characterized by good technical execution, cleanliness, and drinkability, modern wines that do not deny their territory and varieties with excessive extractions or overpowering woods.
The Cirò Riserva 2018 by 'A Vita is fully convincing, with a varietal and layered olfactory profile opening up to notes of blackberry, autumn undergrowth, violet, and pepper. The palate is austere, with still lively tannins well blended with ripe fruit, good consistency, and length on the finish. Since their debut as producers, Franco de Franco and his wife Laura have been fighting for the authenticity of Cirò made only with gaglioppo and for the valorization of the oldest denomination in Calabria. It is no coincidence that for more than twenty years now the wines of their winery have represented one of the most identity-driven and convincing interpretations of the historic Cirò territory, the result of a lot of work in the vineyard, attentive but never too long or extractive maturation, and careful use of wood, with a preference for large barrels.
Sweet fruity and balsamic on the nose, the Cirò Riserva Maradea 2019 by Tenuta Iuzzolini is endowed with a beautiful, dense, energetic palate and long persistence. Pasquale Iuzzolini personally manages the family-owned company, which extends over more than 500 hectares, of which a hundred are planted with vines, but which also has a centuries-old olive grove and a breeding of Podolian cattle that roam freely among the pastures and woods surrounding the estate. In a few years, Pasquale has transformed his budding winery into one of the most dynamic and reliable realities in the entire Cirò area, thanks to a production of high-quality wines, despite numbers that are certainly not niche, made of technically well-made wines, aimed at seeking fruit and pleasantness of drinking, characteristics that have also decreed great commercial success.
The Cirò Riserva Federico Scala 2021 by Santa Venere is elegant and of rare harmony on the nose, with spontaneous black fruit, sour cherry, Mediterranean scrub, and well-dosed wood. The juicy sip, with tannins masterfully integrated with the fruit, is fresh, full-bodied, and of beautiful persistence. Santa Venere, founded by Federico Scala in the 1960s, is certainly one of the most reliable wineries in the entire Cirò denomination from a qualitative point of view; but the estate of over 150 hectares had belonged to his family for several generations and is now run with great competence and passion by his son Giuseppe together with his brother Francesco. The Scala family were the first in Cirò, and probably in Calabria, to convert the entire farm first to organic and then to biodynamic agriculture. They were also among the first to rediscover and put into production wines from almost forgotten indigenous grape varieties such as marsigliana nera and guardavalle.
Cirò Bianco
Citrus blossom, grapefruit, peach for the Cirò Bianco 2022 by Vigneti Vumbaca, savory and with a bursting acidity barely contained by a tonic and crunchy fruit, very long finish. In a territory like that of Cirò, which for its millennia-old history we could define as an open-air wine museum and which is now experiencing a joyful revolution with young producers as protagonists, it is normal for a vigneron like Christian Vumbaca to emerge, capable of producing great wines that combine tradition and innovation to the fullest.
The Cirò Bianco 2022 by Tenuta del Conte is mineral and fruity on the nose, savory, fresh, and with a long citrusy finish on the palate. The wines of Tenuta del Conte, owned by the brothers Mariangela, Giuseppe, and Caterina Parrilla, fourth generation winemakers in Cirò, return to the guide after several years of absence, and with more than good and encouraging results. Thanks to Mariangela's decision, since 2010 the company has been entirely under organic agriculture, without the use of organic fertilizers but with green manure and cover cropping, using only copper and sulfur for treatments, while fermentations take place spontaneously without the use of selected yeasts. The 15 hectares of vineyards are spread across four different areas of Cirò Marina, all quite close to the sea: Terre Rosse, Marinetto, Ponta, and Almeria.
Convinced of the aging potential of greco bianco, Beppe Vulcano ages his Cirò Bianco Capo a Frutto 2021 one year longer than the minimum required by the specifications. It is broad and layered on the nose, integral in fruit, driven by an acidic and savory push, and lively.
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