Wines integrated into the territory through experimentation in a traditional key. From the Latin integer, meaning whole, these wines made only from native grape varieties find their natural habitat in our territories, having acclimatized over millennia.
With total respect for the terroir, we have limited human intervention, avoiding any chemical, physical, or mechanical treatment, as well as all those conventional forcing practices.
Western Sicily, Contrada Samperi, Marsala (TP)
13.50% vol.
2006
Over 20 years
Total SO₂: <20 mg/l (no added sulfites)
Residual Sugars: <1 g/l
Total Acidity: 5.90 g/l
PH: 3.31
Calcareous, medium texture, tending to sandy, flat.
Training system: Guyot trellis; 3,500 vines per hectare.
The vineyard is not subjected to any chemical fertilization or weeding; phytosanitary treatments are drastically reduced, using minimal doses of copper and sulfur. The yield per plant is moderate, the selection of bunches is manual, with harvesting in small crates and short distances between vineyard and winery.
First week of September.
Yield per hectare (Q): 60.
After a rigorous manual selection of the bunches, the grapes are destemmed and gently crushed to start a spontaneous fermentation in 330lt unglazed terracotta amphorae, in the presence of skins, by indigenous yeasts, without pump-overs or punch-downs, for about two weeks, respecting the natural fermentation times. After removing the skins at the end of fermentation, the wine continues its evolution in amphora for about 10 months in contact with fine lees. Bottled without refrigeration, unfined, unfiltered.
“Integer” means whole, and defines an approach that renounces any correction: no selected yeasts, no clarification or filtration, no additions, only time and matter.
Fermentation takes place in amphora, in contact with the skins, following an ancient gesture in which human intervention is reduced to a minimum. Even the bottle is part of this story. It is low, with a sloping shoulder, and recalls the lines of the Marsala bagli, in addition to favoring the natural sedimentation of an unfiltered wine.
For this reason, before serving, a choice opens: gently shake the bottle to resuspend the sediments and obtain a more uniform and textural drink, or pour carefully to leave them on the bottom and read the wine in a clearer way. Two different gestures, two different experiences, both possible.
The estate is located in Contrada Samperi, twelve kilometers from Marsala, on calcareous and sandy soil that the Mediterranean wind sweeps across unimpeded. The baglio dates back to the late nineteenth century — thick walls, filtered light, the scent of aged wood already noticeable from outside. Around it, Grillo vineyards cultivated in the alberello system, as is the tradition of this land.
12 HA
medium-textured sandy-limestone, flat
alberello and Guyot-trained vertical shoot positioning; 3,500 vines per hectare.
manual in small crates, during the final weeks of September.
Manual selection of grapes, soft pressing, natural sedimentation, traditional fermentation in oak and chestnut barrels at room temperature.
Aging in oak and chestnut barrels with the addition of 5% younger wine each year, using the traditional perpetual method.
8.600
