OK. So if you’re anything like us, you’ve probably popped the cork on countless bottles of Lamoresca. The slurpy Vino Rosso and Nerocapitano. And the skinsy-ish, succulent vermentino. And, of course, the frisky joyride that is the rosato. But have you ever thrown caution to the wind and plumbed the depths of this rarefied producer’s stable? If not, it’s probably time to consider.
Filippo Rizzo is the man behind the myth here, and he’s been organically farming 25 hectares of vines, fruits and olives in the rugged Sicilian hinterland since 2000. The soils are rich in limestone, clay and sandstone, and a 430-metre elevation helps the hilly site make the most of the Mediterranean climate. There’s a real focus on biodiversity, too, which no doubt plays a sizeable role in the rustic, wild edginess that distinguishes these wines.
Last year marked the addition of two downright ballistic cuvées to the line-up – and they’ve returned once more. What sets these two red wines apart are long macerations, plus time spent in concrete and two years in bottle, resulting in finely tuned and resolved sense of power and elegance. The 2020 Nero may be a nero d’Avola, but definitely not the sort you’re used to. Signature scents of cherries, violets and amaro are all present and accounted for, but there are nuances here, too: blood orange, wild strawberries, fennel. Sicily on steroids, so to speak.
The 2020 Elsa, meanwhile, is a something of a ‘riserva’ wine, made up of the harvest’s finest grapes and composed mostly of nerello mascalese (60%), with frappato and nero d’Avola making up the remaining share in equal parts. This is sappy and chewy in all the right ways, a mesh of red and blue fruit that’s pushed and pulled in all sorts of directions with bursts of anise, marzipan, dried herbs and brine poking through, and a ripple of stony tannin running through. Much personality. Such deliciousness.