About this WINE
Sergio Arcuri, Calabria
Sergio Arcuri is one of a growing band of Ciro producers (along with A.Vita) making exquisitely fine red wines from Calabria’s star black grape: Gaglioppo (“Galioppo”). He’s a fourth generation Gaglioppo grower who’s now bottling his fruit rather than selling it off as his ancestors did; 2009 being the very first vintage!
The family’s 3.7ha lie in the heart of the Ciro region at 105 msl on Calabria’s south-eastern edge, overlooking the Gulf of Taranto & Puglia beyond. Sergio is fortunate to have old vines planted in 1948 using the original ‘alberello’ trellising system (for quality), along with more recent ‘cordon speronata’ (as found in Bordeaux, for machines & quantity) planted in the 1980s. He works in a very environmentally friendly way (organic not certified). Yields are at a modest 42 hl/ha.
Fermentation takes place in what looks like a large, open cement bath tub, allowing him to keep the cap submerged (for soft extraction). He macerates the 100% Gaglioppo fruit for only a few days before removing the skins (to avoid bitter tannins from the pips) and then completing the fermentations. All is completed using untreated cement.
Production of his pale red, elegant wine is tiny at 2,100 bts/anno.
Watch the video from David Berry Green's visit to the Arcuri winery in the spring of 2013.
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
During the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries, as the phylloxera louse devastated French and northern Italian vineyards, it was wine like this Cirò – made from the local Gaglioppo grape – that came to the rescue, transported in bulk from Italy’s toe to be blended with whatever the local winegrowers could scrape together from their fruitless vineyards. As with other such southern Italian grapes and wines, such as Basilicata’s Aglianico del Vulture, a little dose of this sunny, super-intense fruit brought a warm heart to otherwise meagre offerings. Indeed the Arcuri family made their living supplying northern markets in just such a way; the train departing from close to their base at Cirò Marina on the Calabrian coast. Now, reflecting the seismic change reverberating through the Italian fine wine scene as the next generation step up, so Sergio Arcuri has since 2009 been vinifying and bottling his family’s fruit himself. This is no sun-dried passito wine, but an elegantly structured, fresh, red-berried thing with all the trappings of grander wines from further north… at a third of the price. Best decanted for the full effect.
David Berry Green
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