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Badalucco de la Iglesia Garcia 'Pipa 3/4'- 5°
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Pipa ¾ represents the acme of Badalucco de la Iglesia Garcia's ambitions and reclamation of the long tradition of la basa Marsala and the ancient story of perpetuo wine in western Sicily. It is, in essence, an unfortified Marsalese wine of the kind that would have once been common prior to arrival of John Woodhouse and the British practice of fortification in the late 18th century, and makes the case for Grillo as one of Italy's greatest wine varieties—white or red.
Produced in accordance with biodynamic and regenerative principles on the classic terra rossa soils of western Sicily, third-pass, late-harvest Grillo harvested manually and is crushed by foot, its 'free-run' juice fermented with native yeasts in barrel on- and off over the course of four- to eight years. Maceration on the skins is a given, but variable, depending on the qualities of the vintage. Extended aging occurs in 500 - 1000L casks of oak, acacia, chestnut and cherry, which in keeping with Ingham's Decalogo are maintained at ¾ fill to allow for an optimal rate of oxidation and maturation. When bottled—this is only the fifth iteration of Pipa since 2000—the resulting wine is supernal and oceanic. Notes of orange blossom, tamarind and dried fig, roasted almond and tobacco leaf, Mediterranean herbs and Silk Road spices, and sea salt and sea smoke are incidental beside the vibrant savor and shimmering energy of the wine. Proceed with caution — you are on the precipice of No Return. This can be enjoyed on its own, or with rustic salumi, raw milk cheeses and roasted nuts. It will keep well thru 2050 and beyond.
About Badalucco de la Iglesia Garcia
Base map data ©2024 GooglePierpaolo Badalucco and Beatriz de la Iglesia Garcia began Dos Tierras, their singular winemaking project, upon his return to western Sicily and Contrada Badalucco in 2000. They began slowly, restoring ancient vineyards and scouring the countryside for examples of perpetuo, the oxidative perpetual wine that could be found in homes of the local contadini farmers more than two millennia before the arrival of the British and the introduction of fortification.
Adherents of Ingham's seminal Decalogo, his family had produced Marsala in the small village of Petrosino from 1880 until the late 1960s, when his father and grandfather grew disillusioned with the industrial direction of the appellation. Piero & Beatriz renewed his family's commitment to Ingham's precepts, especially to the importance of la basa Marsala, the 'alto grado' base wine that is essential to region's greatest expressions, fortified or unfortified. In this, they were blessed with a three-hectare plot in Contrada Triglia, a celebrated zone less than 200-meters from the Mediterranean Sea that is universally recognized as 'ground zero' for the greatest Grillo on the island.
Badalucco de la Iglesia Garcia farm this plot and others along biodynamic and regenerative lines and now have 10.5 hectares under vine. Varieties include: Grillo, Catarrato Lucido, Grecanico and Verdejo, as well as Nero d'Avola, Tempranillo and some of western Sicily's best olives. (The Verdejo and Tempranillo were part of the agreement which convinced Beatriz to move to Sicily from her beloved Spain, thus 'Dos Tierras', or 'two lands'.) All are planted selection massale, and everything in the vineyard and cellar is performed manually, by hand (or foot), in keeping with three generations of Badalucco winemaking before them. The quality of the grapes, and especially the skins, is paramount, and all wines are produced entirely from 'free-run' juice. These reach their apotheosis in two wines, XI - Perpetuum and Pipa ¾, unfortified but long aged, oxidative expressions of rare energy and savor that are and among the best of their kind, from Marsala and beyond. Full details
About Sicily
Italy’s southernmost region and the largest island in the Mediterranean, Sicily has been renowned since classical antiquity for its diverse agricultural bounty, celebrated by commentators and historians including Timaeus of Taormina and Pliny the Elder. Known as ‘the granary of the Roman Empire’, it is also famous for its sea salt as well as all manner of citrus fruits; almonds and pistachios; artichokes, olives and, of course, grapes.
Sicily has been a center of Mediterranean viticulture and trade for more than 2500 years, and there is evidence that grapes were cultivated commercially as far back as 8000 B.C. by the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians were in turn succeeded by the Greeks, Carthaginians, and the Romans; by the Moors, Byzantines, Aragonese, and Spanish; by the Piemontese, Austrians, Bourbons and finally, the English. For much of that history, it was known for its strong, sweet wines made with Zibibbo (Muscat d’Alexandria) and later for Marsala, one of the world’s great fortified wines.
Today, Marsala remains its best known—and most misunderstood—wine, but the island has begun to shift away from the ‘bulk wines’ that dominated production during much of the latter half of the 20th century. Sicily’s dry Mediterranean climate and coastal breezes make it ideally suited to the production of organic and biodynamic grapes; its diverse topography and remarkable array of climats, soils and high-quality indigenous grape varieties have spurred new ambition in the 21st century. While international grape varieties have found a home here, Sicilian winemakers are increasingly focused on grape varieties unique to the island, especially Grillo, Carricante, and Zibibbo for white wines, and Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappucio, Frappato and Nero d’Avola for reds. The emergence of the Faro and Etna DOCs in the early 2000s and the stirrings of a Marsala renaissance can now be seen as a tipping point, and Sicily has become one of Italy’s most dynamic wine regions.
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