Passopisciaro Contrada Chiappemacine Terre Siciliane IGT 2018

CONTRADA CHIAPPEMACINE

Viticulturally, the 08 vintage starts in 07 when vines had come to November unstressed from a tempered year and ready to enter the winter’s rest well-nourished. There then was good fertilizing from repeated snowfalls on the mountain, and the hot three months of July, August and September were not able to stress the plants enough to stop their quick passing through growing and ripening stages; some tiredness from the dried soils came in October, but rains were already at the horizon, and carried water in just the right quantity. They made the year a great vintage, with us picking continuously from the 23rd to the end of the month.

This is a small Contrada at 600 meter asl, laying under sandstone towers that whip up a cold breeze over thin lavas that barely reach around them. Because some roots here make it to the lime-soil, wines from Chiappemacine have a rich taste that strikes right at the beginning of a sip. We make wine from ½ hectare of vines of Nerello Mascalese that we hold in this Contrada. The plants are 80 years old.