2013 Catarratto, Porta del Vento, Camporeale, Sicily
Critics reviews
Tom Cannavan - Wine Pages
About this WINE
Porta del Vento, Sicily
The pharmacist from Palermo, who’d never lost the smell and feel of his grandfather’s family wine press in Mazara del Vallo, Marco Sferlazzo, finally sought out his ‘holy grail’ in 2002, coming across the 14ha wine property just north of Camporeale in Sicily. Located 600ms, on sandstone, calc and red clay soils, the free-standing, weathered 50 year Catarratto vines had stopped producing sufficient fruit for the cooperative, but Marco saw their potential in making high quality wines.
The estate’s name Porta del Vento derives from the vineyard’s position on the col (or saddle) of the hill, over which gusts the wind blowing in from the Tyrrhenian sea to the north, naturally ventilating the vines and extending their hang-time; it’s like an open door to the wind. Marco grows two clones of Catarratto: the older, 17th century ‘Comune’, or common, whose skins are thicker and yields smaller, giving darker juice of richly structured wine; and ‘Extra Lucido’, a more recent, 1950s clone, with thinner skins and giving slightly lighter wines with more perfume and less structure.
The vines aren’t irrigated, nor feed or fertilized; the yields being naturally low at circa 25hl/ha. Harvest (of the Catarratto) takes places in mid-end October. Vinifications are spontaneous and long, in both stainless-steel and large Slavonian oak vats and botte.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
Catarratto is very much the white grape of the centre northern (settentrionale) part of Sicily, close to Palermo. Here Marco Sferlazzo's 30-year-old vines hug the tough, Glen-like mountainous landscape, buffeted by the winds (il vento) at 600 meters above sea level, high up on sandstone clay soils. Here the harvests are late, the conditions demanding. For his signature wine, Marco blends in both clones of Catarratto: thick-skinned Comuni and thin-skinned (and more productive) Extra-lucido. The result is very much a wine of the place rather than of the fruit: richly intense with wild herb, citric, almost apply notes – reminding one of Savennieres. Immensely sapid and long; the product of very low yields at 25hl/ha. One can sense that Marco's decision to farm organically, without irrigation or fertilisation in such an exposed site has meant that every drop of must has been well earned and bottled. Vinification took place in stainless-steel using wild yeasts; Low alcohol at 12.5% abv
David Berry Green
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