Lamoresca Terre Siciliane Frappato Nerocapitano 2023
Lamoresca Terre Siciliane Frappato Nerocapitano 2023
Regular price$3600
$36.00
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Filippo Rizzo had a restaurant in Belgium in the 1990s. He and his wife Nancy were early advocates for natural wines, and in that very small circle of professionals - even smaller outside of Paris - the couple bought wine from a broker named Frank Cornelissen. A few years after Frank moved to Etna to start making his iconic wines, Filippo and Nancy decided to return to Filippo's family farm of 11 hectares in central Sicily just outside the village of San Cono. He worked with Frank for several vintages to learn the ins and outs of natural winemaking before starting his own winery, Lamoresca.
Lamoresca is in the middle of nowhere. There are no other vineyards for 50 kilometers in any direction, but it's prototypical Sicilian country, perfect for olives and vines. The farm is high enough in elevation (about 450 meters) to lift the vineyard out of the worst of the heat, with sandstone and iron rich clay soils that give the grapes a signature note of minerality. Filippo works entirely by hand with Nero d'Avola and Frappato, the signature red grapes for most of Sicily, but where so many Sicilian wines are heavy, sappy, filled with alcohol and empty of acidity, Lamoresca wines are complex, balanced, and elegantly aromatic. Even when they have the stuffing you expect from Sicily, they still speak in measured tones.
Frappato is Sicily's aromatic answer to Pinot Noir. The best expression of the variety is like a walk through a rose garden in full bloom. Filippo's version offers a spicy counterpoint with pepper and oregano, and the texture is balanced on the head of a pin, luxurious yet fresh. 100% Frappato. 14 days of maceration on the skin in vertical “tini”, the skin gets manually pressed down 2 times a day, without temperature control or added yeasts. At the end of fermentation (sometimes before if tannins are too intense) he uses an old-fashioned manual basket press for softly pressing the must back to avoid pulling ‘sharp tannins.’ The wine is aged in concrete through the winter and is racked at least three times. Minimal added sulfur and no filtering or fining.
“Nerocapitano is born from the Sicilian tradition of crafting a wine exclusively from Frappato grapes. In the Sicilian dialect, Frappato is referred to as Capitano Nero, hence the name. This wine is light on alcohol and is best enjoyed when young. We recommend serving this wine lightly chilled during the summer, paired with a simple pizza.”
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