VINEYARD | The vineyard dedicated to the Heritage line is located halfway up the hill south of Marsala, a very ventilated area and as the crow flies close enough to the sea to enjoy its beneficial effects especially on hot summer nights. It is a total of ten hectares, two of which are Nero d'Avola, used for Marsala Rubino and eight are grillo for the other different types such as Vergine, Oro, Secco and Semisecco, but also for the Pre-British. The grillo used for Marsala is harvested late, generally after mid-September, to have an alcohol content close to 15 degrees at the start. To produce his Marsalas, Ciccio Intorcia does not use a common mistella, but a blend of various alcohols left to age first for at least two years in small French oak barrels. After the addition of alcohol, the wine is then aged in large 13,000-litre scole oak barrels, therefore it is a single barrel and not a soleras method.
PERSON | It was 1930 when Francesco Intorcia founded his factory for the production of Marsala, a wine that at the time was still booming both in Italy and abroad. As for many in Marsala, the post-WWII period was a tragedy, Marsala was no longer as good as before and a very long crisis was beginning which lead many to close or turn into normal cellars. Led by Antonio, aka Totò, the Intorcia winery still managed to overcome the crisis without distorting itself and in 1994 the young Francesco joined his father in the business. Ciccio, as everyone calls him, had clear and innovative ideas and dad Totò fully supported him, he understood that it was time to bring out the pride of Marsala and go back to focusing on a high quality production to get out of the shallows of a market that in the past years had been destroyed by products not worthy of the fame that Marsala had in the world. It was 2012 when the Heritage line was born, which on the one hand contains the historical reserves of the cellar starting from 1980 and on the other offers a line of Marsala and Pre-British wines that come from a dedicated vineyard.
WINE | We could spend hours trying to identify individual notes. If the reflections are between copper and ruby, the aromas are nothing short of fine and complex, between tones of walnut and zabajone, hazelnuts, white pepper, candied orange. The mouth is definitely salty, biting in flavour and incisiveness, with an acidity that is still very lively with spicy notes that take centre stage, from cinnamon to carob, with a refined peppery finish. The gustatory progression is enthralling, class and then some, for a finish that goes beyond the minute for a persistence that is not easily forgotten, in a mix of salted orange peel and hints of dried fruit. Well beyond expectations which were certainly not low.
