Barraco 'Fior di Rosso' Terre Siciliane 2021

Press 4 Mix/Red • August 2024 Direct Press Selection

Nino Barraco is a son of Marsala, where successive generations have watched the market and the price of their wines take an epic nose dive. At one point, owing to not just wine but capers and salt, Marsala was the second wealthiest city in Italy. But now it has just roughly half of the vineyards and production it once did. Even more shocking is that only 3 or 4% of the wine is bottled: most is sold off as bulk wine, a problem endemic to much of Sicily for the past 50 years. In Marsala, most of it goes to France to be used as cooking wine. Not surprisingly, Nino Barraco decided to go in a different direction in 2004, working organically from day one and making his decisions based on the health of the soil and vines. He goes for an oxidative approach in the cellar, a method that pre-dates the 18th century English merchants that started exporting sweet, fortified Marsala. 

Fior di Rosso is from a mix of his super chalky, white limestone vineyards and is 50/50 Pignatello and Nero d'Avola. It's rustic and a little funky, with some pungent brackish aromas and a light tickle of carbon dioxide. The palate is gamey and grippy, with chewy iron notes and flavors that bring to mind a juicy, flame-grilled burger. That being said, it's really not that heavy of a wine and would be lovely with a little chill. Pair with anything from caponata to the aforementioned flame grilled burger. Jonathan Kemp