WINERY: Santa Venere
COUNTRY: Italy
REGION: Calabria
APPELLATION: Ciro Rosso DOC
GRAPE: 100% Gaglioppo
WINEMAKER NOTES: It's safe to assume that the Gaglioppo grape will be unfamiliar to many. Genetically related to the far better known Sangiovese grape variety, it's found most notably in Calabria's Cirò DOC, where it produces light- to medium-bodied reds with delightful, perfumed, red berry and cherry notes, and a sprinkling of wild herbs. Grown organically and at altitude, on a site overlooking the Ionian Sea, the grapes have produced an unoaked wine with fleshy fruit expression, but also refreshing acidity.
TASTING NOTES: Bright ruby red with attractive initial roundness, its tannins and softness are very well-balanced.
PAIRING SUGGESTIONS: It is perfect with white and red meats, goes well with both more delicate truffle-based pasta dishes and also is a great foil for this Italian region's more famous export, the deliciously spicy soft salami called 'nduja.
ABOUT THE WINERY: Santa Venere farm extends on the hills of Cirò, in the province of Crotone, this farm enhances the ancient land of Cirò PDO wine and the typical Calabrian PGI crops. Scala family, owner of the estate since the 1600s, transformed the original feud into an avant-garde company centre that respects tradition. Today the heirs, Federico and Giuseppe, carry on the vinification in an organic regime using precious collaboration of expert oenologists such as Riccardo Cotarella first and then Massimo Bartolini. Equipped with increasingly sophisticated machinery and systems, the company pays the utmost attention to the care of vineyards and to all stages of production.
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