Paolo Petrilli. Cacc'e Mmitte di Lucera 'Agramante'

Cacc'e Mmitte di Lucera DOC
Grapes: 60% Nero di Troia with Montepulciano, Sangiovese, Bombino

2017  Ripe blueberry and strawberry on the nose, some liquorice and spice, with perfectly mature silky tannins, quite Pinot-esque. An inviting and honest wine, made the more fascinating by the subtle cinnamon and sloe. A joy to drink. 
We are down to the last few cases of the 2017, we recommend decanting this wine, it was bottled without filtration and whilst magnificent - it has thrown quite a sediment. 13.5%

The 2019 follows the extraordinary 2017, a great wine with rich bramble and blueberry fruit aromas, and a great depth of concentrated fruit, nuance of almond and espresso. 13%

Link to Paolo Petrilli producer page

There is a tendency to de-classify wines from the less fashionable DOCs of Italy, the argument being that a great wine can stand apart, unsullied by its’ neighbours and unbound by the regulations imposed by the DOC.  Fortunately, Paolo has modestly embraced the history of Lucera and has chosen to make the Agramante within the auspices laid down by the DOC and like a great chef, his ingredients and interpretation are immaculate. Cacc'e Mmitte di Lucera may infer a simple, everyday wine, this is anything but, it is one of the great wines of the south.

The vineyard was planted between 1998-2001 on a single sun-drenched south facing, limestone slope, pale with chalk and open to the sea breezes from the Garganega peninsula.  The vines are trained using a Cordone Speronato (Cordon de Royat*) system, at a density of 5000 vines per hectare; the yield is 1.2kg from each vine.

The harvest is by hand in the coolest part of the day, starting with the Sangiovese in mid-September, then the Montepulciano and Bombino in early October, and finally the Nero di Troia at the end of October.  The varieties are fermented separately in conical, open, oak casks (French and Slovenian), each holding up to 600 litres, an ideal size for spontaneous fermentation without temperature control.  The varieties are aged in steel tanks for 6 months before the final wine is assembled and aged in steel for a year.  It is then bottled without filtration.

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