< Barraco
Zibibbo
The Zibibbo (Muscat of Alexandria) is known as a great aromatic varietal widely used in Sicily for dessert wines. Nino Barraco’s challenge is to make it the great aromatic grape for dry wines, “the Gewürztraminer of the South”. When compared to the ones produced in Pantelleria, Nino’s dry Zibibbo reveals less aromatic intensity, but more complexity in the secondary aromas, due to the greater fertility of Marsala’s soils.
The vineyard, at just one kilometer from the sea, is 15 years old. The harvest conducted in early September yields rather acid grapes with a good amount of sugar. Primary fermentation takes place in small steel tanks with wild yeasts present on the skins. After the malolactic fermentation, the wine matures in steel until May. The wine is bottled without previous clarifying or filtration.
The result is a wine with the varietal’s primary notes, the secondary notes recall mint and lemon, but also the tertiary notes reveal themselves with hints of ripe orange and dried apricot. The varietal character is responsible for a dry-herbal-bitter aftertaste.
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Appellation
Bianco IGT Sicilia
Vineyard
Vigna Riina Vecchia, Marsala
Grape varietals
Zibibbo (Muscat of Alexandria) 100%
Vines
Espalier, 2.800 plants per hectare
Age of vineyard
15 years
Altitude
6-7 m AMSL
Terrain
Lime, with rich structure
Vinification
Harvest by hand, stemming, fermentation on the skins for 4 days, pressing with a hand press, primary fermentation with wild yeasts at temperatures between 25 °C and 32 °C. Spontaneous malolactic fermentation between october and december. No filtration.
Maturation
8 months in steel tank
Refining
5 months in the bottles
Produced bottles
3.500 (vintage 2008)
Tasting notes
Eye: intense yellow, almost golden.
Nose: intensely aromatic, with all the varietal’s typical notes. Yellow flowers (broom), hints of dried apricot and citrus (bergamot), slightly mineral and sapid.
Palate: soft with sapid notes.
Alcohol
13,5%