"Mille e Una Notte" Sicilia Doc 2019 75 cl Donnafugata

DF MUN

Mille e una Notte 2016 is caressing and intense, characterized by an ample bouquet with fruity notes combined with balsamic and spicy scents. Donnafugata's flagship red confirms itself as an icon of style and elegance.

DENOMINATION: Red Sicilia DOC.

GRAPES: Nero d'Avola, Petit Verdot, Syrah and other grapes.

PRODUCTION ZONE: south-western Sicily, Contessa Entellina Estate and nearby areas.

TERRAINS & CLIMATE: altitude from 200 to 600 m a.m.s.l. (656- 1,312 ft); hilly orography; clay loam soils with a sub-alkaline reaction (pH 7.5 to 7.9) rich in nutritive elements (potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, zinc) and total limestone from 20 to 35%. Mild winters with little rainfall. Warm, dry, ventilated summers. Substantial differences between day and night-time temperatures.

VINEYARD: VSP (Vertical Shoot Positioning) training with spurred cordon pruning g, leaving 6 to 8 buds per plant. Planting density of 4,500 to 6,000 plants per hectare (1,800-2,400 an acre) and yields of about 4-5 tons per hectare (1.6-2 tons an acre).

VINTAGE: the 2016 vintage was characterized by a fairly balanced climatic trend, marked by a mild spring and a summer without excessive peaks of heat, allowing the vineyard to continue the vegetative cycle in a balanced way. Overall, 590 mm* of rainfall was recorded, a slightly lower figure compared to the average of 669 mm**. Careful vineyard management allowed us to bring into the winery healthy and well-ripened grapes, a premise of quality, long-lived wines. *VINTAGE: in Contessa Entellina we consider the period from October 1 to September 30; RAINFALL: data collected by SIAS, (Sicilian Agrometeorological Service); **the average is calculated from vintage 2003 to vintage 2016.

HARVESTING: manual harvesting of grapes into crates with careful selection of the grapes in the vineyard. The harvest of the grapes destined for Mille e una Notte began during the first decade of September with the Nero d'Avola and Petit Verdot, followed by Syrah.

VINIFICATION: a further selection is carried out in the cellar, thanks to a latest generation destemmer, able to discard the green and overripe berries that might still be on the clusters. Fermentation in stainless steel and maceration on the skins for 12 days at a temperature of 26 - 30° C (79 -86° F). Ageing for 13-14 months in new French oak barriques and then in the bottle for at least 20 months.

TASTING NOTES (June 24, 2019): intense ruby red colored, Mille e una Notte 2016 is characterized by an ample bouquet, with fruity notes (blackberry and black mulberry) and balsamic (liquorice) and spicy scents (nutmeg). The palate is soft and embracing, surprising with an extraordinary silky tannin. A remarkable long persistence on the finish.

AGING POTENTIAL: over 20 years.

FOOD & WINE: excellent with roast and braised meat, first courses with ragù and rack of lamb. Try it with tasty dishes of stewed fish. If served in large, big-bellied goblets it can be uncorked a few minutes before, otherwise a couple of hours earlier. Excellent at 18°C (64°F).

DIALOGUE WITH ART THE LABEL: the palace shown on the label is the one where Queen Maria Carolina took refuge fleeing from Naples and was the favorite house of the writer Tomasi di Lampedusa in Santa Margherita Belice. Gabriella Anca Rallo – founder of Donnafugata, with her husband Giacomo – captures the image and embeds it into the sky from "Arabian Nights", full of stars and full of promise. A tribute to the passionate masterpiece of oriental literature, capable of telling thousand and one stories.

FIRST VINTAGE: 1995. 

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