There are 5000 vines aged 15years in Giummarella, near Trapani, from which only 2 kilos from each plant are collected, when the grapes are ripe enough. From these grapes the company Caruso & Minini Spa, a joint venture which was born in 2002 between the Caruso family from Castelvetrano (Trapani) and the Minini family from Brescia, obtains the Riserva Doc Delia Nivolelli that won the gold medal at the international contest “Syrah du Monde”. 27 countries from all around the world took part in the competition, which took place at the Chateau d’Ampuis, in France, in the north of the Rhone Valley. Now the Caruso & Minini company has sent its wines to Russia for the Vinitaly 2010 tour, winning together with a company from Tuscany, the Fattoria di Magliano from Grosseto.
“These positive results show that we have undertaken the right way”, explained Stefano Caruso, agronomist and president of the company, to the online newspaper Siciliainformazioni , “that aims at giving value to our territory”. “Even if Syrah isn’t a native vine, we are convinced that in Sicily it expresses all its qualities better than in other parts of the world, like France or the Shiraz area, from where it originally came from”, said Caruso, “moreover this vine gives unique peculiarities to our Doc Delia Nivolelli, which has never been really appreciated like the Doc Marsala, which is more popular”. The work of the company was also awarded at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, which took place two months ago in Palermo: three out of the four wines that the company presented were awarded. Among these the Syrah Riserva Doc Delia Nivolelli of 2006.
“This prize goes to the whole team”, underlined Caruso, because the vigneron doesn’t work on his own, but he is supported by a technical staff that works with passion and dedication, from the vineyard to the cellar and finally the selling of the finished products.
But there are also the 120 hectares of vineyards between Marsala and Salemi, at 400 metres above sea level. These vineyards are cultivated with an organic method, even if it still hasn’t been certified. “Organic cultivation includes certain rules that the agronomist follows to manage the vineyard in a sustainable way”, explained Fernando Paternò, “but without the limits of the certification we are able to intervene in case of sudden illnesses, like doctors do with their patients”.
The cellar is the reign of oenologist Giuseppe Clementi, who was one of the first to receive a degree in wine growing and oenology in Marsala. “Only the best grapes are collected and processed to obtain a fresh product which is the expression of the territory from where it comes ”, explained Clementi. The Syrah wine is fermented for two years in 5 tonneaux, which are small barrels that usually contain 300 hectolitres. This is why we call it Riserva. When the wine is bottled, our aim is to sell it, thanks to Leonardo Nicotra, marketing director who spends more time abroad than in Sicily. The result: at the moment export has reached more than 60% especially towards the Usa and eastern European countries such as Poland, Estonia and Rumania. The Syrah Riserva counts about 3000 pieces, but the whole business of the company included more than 550 thousand bottles.
But the value of a territory also goes through wine tourism. “Every year we register between 7000 and 9000 visitors, mainly from Germany and Austria”, said Caruso, “Italians are few and Sicilians even fewer”. Moreover in the 5000 squared -meter-cellar which is located in Marsala, the Caruso & Minini company has also a shop where the bottles are sold directly tot the public. A real independent wine shop, which can be visited thanks to an internal yard, which was created two years ago. From this yard you can also visit the tasting room, a space dedicated to catering and a conference room of 160 squared metres.
Amongst the products of the cellar there are also a monovarietal Perricone which still hasn’t won the gold medal, but it would deserve a special prize for its healthy properties, which have been proven by scientific evidence.
CARUSO & MININI SPA. Address: Via Salemi, 3 – 91025 Marsala (TP). Telephone: 0039 0923 982356 ; fax: 0039 0923 723356. Email: info@carusoeminini.it; website: www.carusoeminini.it.
Translated by Chiara Nunnari from John Milton Institute
