Greco di Tufo DOCG
Grapes Greco
Intense lime and wild herb aromas, full crisp fruit, with elements of bitter lemon and slight apricot, kiwi, sherbet and salt. Poised, precise and fine. An absolute classic.
13%
20,000 bottles made

Cantine di Marzo producer page.

There is something of the Doctor (Who) about this wine, it is a magnificent original born in 1647 when, in a move to escape a plague sweeping through Naples, Ferrante’s descendants decamped to Tufo, travelling with their treasured Greco vines. Greco di Tufo is a wine that is reborn as tastes and technologies evolve and even as the climate changes; however, it essentially has the same character (in case you were wondering how I could work the Doctor in).
This second vintage of ‘Le Vigne’ establishes the latest incarnation of Di Marzo’s Greco Classico; it is definitely a new model, not just a facelift. The label has changed and the bottle has returned to a traditional fluted shape, the real change however is the arrival of winemaker Vincenzo Mercurio who has established a new style and confidence, his influence is marked.
The vineyards are in the hamlets of San Paolo and Santa Lucia; the soils are a mixture of sulphur, chalk and clay at an altitude of 450m. The prevailing aspect is southwest, the vines are 20 years old on average and are planted at around 3000 vines per hectare, using a Guyot system.
‘Le Vigne’ is made from selected, hand-harvested grapes (middle of October). Ferrante’s opening quality grapes are now used in the ‘Palazzo’ line, the quality of Palazzo has thus shifted to bring it into line with the requirements of high-end multiple retailers, honestly, it is not in the same class as the ‘Le Vigne’.
The bunches are de-stemmed and gently ‘bladder’ pressed, only the free running juice (the resulting juice from a light pressing) is used. Fermentation is underground in small temperature-controlled steel tanks; each had to be commissioned to fit into this eccentric and ancient cantina. Selected yeasts are used for the fermentation and the wine remains on the yeasts for six months, over this period it goes through a partial malolactic conversion.