Produced from a single-hectare plot of Nerello Mascalese grown at high altitude on the region's famed terre brune soils, this wine was fermented with native yeasts and aged in stainless steel for two years prior to bottling. It received an additional three years of bottle aging prior to release. Elegant and savory, it gives compelling new expression to Sicily’s most celebrated red grape, with notes of black cherry, raspberry, sweet earth and spices, underscored by a haunting mineral savor. Enjoy thru 2040.

keeps until 2032
(50-59ºF)

keeps 1-2 days
(55-59ºF)

4-5 oz. pour
(55-59ºF)

About Az. Ag. Francesco Guccione

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Nestled in the Sicilian highlands 40 kilometers southwest of Palermo, the tiny domain of winemaker Francesco Guccione is both a voyage of discovery and study in splendid isolation. Here, at nearly 500 meters altitude, in the shadow of Mount Kumeta, the 'lone wolf' of the Belice Valley tends his terre brune soils naturally, by hand—‘tutto fatto a mano’—in keeping with traditions that have distinguished this remote but historic outpost, Contrada Cerasa, for more than two centuries.

Guccione maintains 6 hectares under vine, as well as another four given over to ancient Sicilian grains, vegetables and livestock, on land that has been in his family for four generations. Local varieties Trebbiano, Catarratto Lucido, Nerello Mascalese and Perricone were planted via selection massale, with the oldest vines dating from 1985. Farming is done organically and regeneratively, in keeping with the biodynamic principles. Cellar practices are likewise non-interventionist and according to natural precepts, and wines are bottled and released only when they are deemed 'ready'—often after several years aging—resulting in soulful wines of great purity, classicism and rugged elegance. To paraphrase British wine writer Andrew Jefford: 'If doggedness in the vineyards and humility in the cellar are vital to making wines of consequence', then these are highly consequential wines. 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.