Ciro: The Ancient Jewel of Calabria

The region of Calabria is located in southern Italy at the tip of the boot.  Our Italian Food, Wine & Travel group (#ItalianFWT) is here this month to feature Calabria and its native grapes.  It's not a highly regarded region for winemaking and doesn't get much attention for the wines that it does produce.  It's most popular wine hails from the Ciro DOC, which is required to be made of at least 95% of the gaglioppo grape with up to 5% of greco bianco and trebbiano.

Copyright of Federdoc

The Winery
Today I'm featuring Azienda Agricola Scala that has been around since 1949 and is operated by its 3rd generation family. The winery is located in Ciro Marina along the Ionian Sea.  Their focus is on producing native grapes such as gaglioppo, nerello, magliocco, greco and mantonico.  A couple of these grapes, magliocco and mantonico, are grapes that have been revived in recent times.  The goal is to refocus the quality of wines produced in Calabria and reestablish the indigenous grapes of the region. 

Left to right: Luigi Scala and Francesco Scala

The Land
Calabria's geography is mostly mountainous with some plains along the Ionian Sea.  It was a region heavily populated by Greeks that contributed greatly to the culture and winemaking within the region. There is plenty of sunshine and warm weather, but the breezes coming off the sea help contribute to making prime grapes.

The Grapes
Calabria is mostly known for producing red wines and majority are made from the gaglioppo grape.  Unfortunately a lot of the grapes of the region are shipped north and is probably part of the reason that this region hasn't gotten the attention it deserves with its native grapes as it should.

There are 12 DOC's of the region with the leader being Ciro DOC.  Its been said that the wines of Ciro were served to winners of the Olympic games in ancient times. 

The Wine

Yes that is snow already in northern NH

I tried the 2015 Azienda Agricola Scala Ciro Rosso Classico  Superiore made from 100% of the gaglioppo grape.  It's fermented in stainless steel tanks and aged in concrete.  More garnet in color with tinges of orange on the rim.  Medium-bodied with red dried fruits, mostly cherry, and toasty notes with baking spices.  Low to moderate tannin with a lengthy finish. I found this to be quite an interesting wine with lots of complexities. At this price point it's well worth trying.  The Calabrians food fare tends to be on the spicier side so grape a bottle and seek out some nduja, a spicy sausage spread.
ABV 13.5% SRP $14-16


Join us this Saturday November 3rd on Twitter at 11am EST at #ItalianFWT as we chat about the wines of Calabria.  Join the rest of my fellow bloggers as they share some great Calabrian wines and foods to be enjoyed.

Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Cam will share “Braised Beef Cheeks over Garlic Gnocchi + Statti Calabria Gaglioppo 2015”

Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm will share “The Food and Wine of Calabria”

Lauren at The Swirling Dervish will share “Exploring Calabrian Wine: The Du Cropio Estate in Cirò”

Jeff at Food Wine Click will share “Exploring the Toe of Italy’s Boot with Ciro Rosso”

Katarina at Grapevine Adventures will share “A New Golden Age for the Gaglioppo in Calabria”

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*Pictures copyright of Azienda Agricola Scala

Valentine Pick Under $20: Caparra & Siciliani Solagi Ciro

With Valentine's Day right around corner you may be thinking which wine you want to celebrate with whether it's with a loved one or by yourself.  Some are thinking of going above and beyond and splurging to celebrate the occasion, but in my opinion Valentine's Day is just another made up holiday that the stores can profit off of so why not be different.  Let's think outside the box than the usual popular wines of Italy and let's even keep it under $20.  My selection is the 2013 Solagi Ciro by Caparra & Siciliani.   

Their Solagi Ciro wine hails from the region of Calabria, not a region we talk about often.  Ciro wines are named after the town of which they reside off the coast of Taranto.  Here Ciro Rosso is primarily made up of the gaglioppo grape.  Gaglioppo can be a light to medium bodied wine showcasing mostly cherry with a hint of spice backed by good acidity and low tannin. 

Gaglioppo grapes photo by Fabio Ingrosso

The Caparra & Siciliani winery is located right along the sea where the sun shines over the fertile flatlands and low hills.  The winery started in 1963, but had been making wine since the 19th century.  Their winemaking is overseen by the well regarded Italian consulting enologist, Fabrizio Ciufoli.   

2013 Caparra & Siciliani Solagi Ciro Rosso Classico

Ciro DOC / ABV 13.5% / SRP $15-17 

100% produced from the gaglioppo grape and a nice expression of the grape itself.  Ruby red in color with a tinge of orange on the rim and rich in aromatics.  Medium to fuller bodied with dried cherries on the palate with nice acidity and refined tannins.  Reminds me of a sangiovese.  Drinking well now. Aged in stainless steel and oak casks. 

I wish you all a wonderful Valentine's Day and let me know what you plan on enjoying for wine this day. 

Side note: A friend of mine, Bob Lipinski, has written a book called Italian Wine Notes.  He shared his book with me and I found it to be a succinct way of explaining Italian grapes, laws and regions.  It's perfect for understanding grapes such as gaglioppo and places like Ciro.  It's easy to carry and is a great reference when shopping for your next purchase of Italian wine. 

                                                     
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Italian Wine Notes (Second Edition)

The Mediterranean Heart of Calabria with Librandi

Earlier this month our Italian Food, Wine & Travel group (#ItalianFWT) featured the region of Calabria. Calabria is situated at the pointy tip of the boot. Reminds me of all the wonderful Italian leather shoes they have over there and those that I brought home with the pointy toe. It's closely situated to Sicily and is seperated by the Strait of Messina. Calabria is known as the enotria, land of wine, and was a name granted by the Greek settlers that first settled here. 

The winery I'm sharing with you today, Librandi, states on their site that they are “cuore mediterraneo”, mediterranean at the heart. Based on where they are situated and the wines they produce demonstrate their mediterranean heart and soul of what the mediterranean is all about. 

To stay true to the theme this month I wanted to share probably one of the most known red grapes from Calabria, gaglioppo. You may have never heard of it, but if you at least known that much you're off to a good start. Most likely if you are to look for red wines from Calabria you'll see Ciro wines from the Ciro area of Calabria and these are primarily based on the gaglioppo grape. 

Gaglioppo grapes by Fabio Ingrosso

The Librandi winery is one of the well-known wineries of this region in Calabria. The winery was initially founded by Nicodemo and Antonio and today is run by Nicodemo and his family. The Librandi winery partners with 42 associates within the Ciro DOC and sources their grapes only from this area. 

I had tried the 2009 Librandi Duca San Felice Ciro Rosso Classico Superiore Riserva DOC. Wow that's a mouthful! The Duca San Felice wine is is named after the oldest vineyard owned by the Librandi family and it was the last vineyard planted by the father, Raffaele Librandi. It's located in the Ciro area of Calabria and is considered one of the cru sites named Ponta. 

I always value the wineries that experimenting with new grapes or restoring those ancient grapes of the past that face extinction. The Librandi family is doing just that working and experimenting with grapes such as mantonico bianco, magliocco, arvino and pecorello. I wrote about these grapes earlier this month, specifically magliocco and mantonico bianco. Personally, I had never heard of any these so it would be great if they could be reintroduced to the repertoire of wines that Calabria offers.

The 2009 Librandi Duca San Felice Ciro Rosso Classico Superiore Riserva DOC is made 100% from gaglioppo.and is aged 3 years in stainless steel with an additional few months in the bottle. is clear in color with garnet hues. A dry wine, medium bodied, smooth with moderate tannin. On the palate are notes of tea leaves, roses and some spice. This wine retails about $19. 

Have you tried this particular wine or the wines of Librandi, or better yet any of the wines from Calabria? 

Don't be shy to tell me your stories. I love to hear from my readers.

Source: Librandi Winery

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Drink the calabrese wine of champions!

Crotone, Calabria ~ Castello di Le Castella by Revol Web

I know we have many Calabrese Italians in and around the Boston area. Since my journey through the Italian wine world includes all 20 regions in Italy today I cover one we haven't discussed yet, Calabria. Calabria is located at the toe of the boot separated from Sicily by the Strait of Messina. It's surrounded by the Ionian and Tyrrhenian Seas. Calabria is quite hot as you can imagine and the vineyards can be cooled by the breezes off the seas. Even though it's along the coastline it is quite mountainous there. 

Agriculture plays a big part of living for the folks of this region including a wide variety of vegetables, cured meats (especially salami) and swordfish and shellfish is very popular here.

Calabrian landscape by Piervicenzocanale 

The Greeks had colonized this area of southern Italy, along with other nationalities, and the Greeks are known to have introduced wine making to this region. According to Wine Country, the Greeks used the local grapes from a Greek colony today known as Ciro Marina and the wine they produced was called, Cremissa. This wine was served to the champions of the Olympics. So just think, if you can seek out a bottle of this wine you can be drinking the wine of champions! Alot of the wine here is sold off to cooperatives and some is shipped north to be blended in with grapes, but if you love Italian wine and have been to Calabria or want to go you should know about their wine region.

Gaglioppo grapes by Fabio Ingrosso

The majority of the wine production in Calabria is red wine with the most common grape being gaglioppo and for whites, greco. The center of wine production in this region resides in the area, Ciro, which is what the wine is named after. This is one of the 12 DOC's of this region. Most of the wines in Calabria are the IGT, indicazione geografic tipica, status along with the DOC, denominazione di origine controllata, designations, but there aren't any DOCG wines of this region, which was the highest classification in Italian wines until the recent Gran Selezione designation in the Chianti region. 

There are reds, whites and roses produced in this region, but most popular is the red wine Ciro, which contains at least 95% gaglioppo, which is tannic and full bodied. In the Ciro red it is also blended with greco bianco and trebbiano. The interesting part about Gaglioppo is that it's light in color in the glass, similar to a nebbiolo, but don't be deceived by that as there is plenty structure, acidity and fruit behind it to awaken your senses. The white Ciro is made up of mostly of greco bianco. One of the most known producers of wine from this region is Librandi.

I look forward to visiting more of southern Italy myself, including Calabria & Puglia in the future. Has anyone tried the wine of ancient champions?

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