There is a Wwf reserve in Mazara del Vallo, in the province of Trapani, that hosts for long periods of the year, herons and hawks and where it is possible to find a rare biodiversity concerning animals and plants. Here, in a suggestive landscape enriched by the Preola and Gorghi Tondi lake, there is also a wine company run by two sisters, Anna and Clara Scala, the heiresses of a wine culture four-generations long.
The company is called Gorghi Tondi, 130 hectares of vineyards located in the Contrada San Nicola, which once belonged to an estate 1500 hectares wide, used also as hunting territory by the Saporito princes. A modern company but with an “ancient heart”, in which the two sisters decided to experiment in order to obtain the multifaceted expressions of their territory and native vines.
So after the late grape harvest of Grillo, which has been produced for the past three years, they decided to add four “Metodo Classico” from four monovarietal vines, Nero D’Avola, Catarratto, Grillo and Zibibbo. “We are always looking for something new which can reflect our territory” explained Annamaria Scala, “and that can show us the other face of our native vines”. These new products will be ready in 2011, because they are the result of the 2009 grape harvest and the classical method takes at least 24 months.
“In 130 hectares of vineyards, that stretch from inland to the lakes and the coast and where the soil from a medium consistency becomes sandy” added the young manager, “we have the chance to choose the right grapes to obtain the best features for the wines that we want to produce”.
The Grillo grapes used for the late harvest, for example, come from a vineyard close to the sea”, she explained, “where our oenologist, Tonino Guzzo, found the right climate conditions for the development of the Botrytis cinerea, the so-called noble mould which is very rare in Sicily”. So an oasis inside an oasis.
The cellar is located inside these 130 hectares. It was built respecting the ancient architecture, but it contains modern technology and a suggestive wine cellar. After all, the Sala sisters are convinced that, as their great grandfather said, “the future is solid when its roots are in the past”.
Tenuta Gorghi Tondi. Vineyards and cellar: Contrada San Nicola – 91026 – Mazara Del Vallo (TP). Telephone and fax: 0039 0923 657364. Offices: Piazza Piemonte e Lombardo, 13 – 91025 Marsala (TP). Telephone: 0039 0923 719741 – 719741; fax 0039 0923 716289. Email: info@gorghitondi.com; website: www.tenutagorghitondi.it.
