Tenuta del Travale Eleuteria Rosso Calabria IGP – 2020

Made from 100% Nerello Mascalese, this red has a pale garnet colour and gentle dark cherry fruit, floral and spice aromas. On the palate it has good fruit depth and density and fairly firm, slightly stalky tannins. It is elegant and fine with a finish which grows and grows the longer you leave the wine in the glass. This has a wonderfully unique personality – tastes like a Calabrian version of Barolo! 14.5% alcohol.

Enjoy with a cheese fondue or sardine and tomato pasta, or serve slightly chilled with swordfish cooked in a tomato and olive sauce.

200 cases were produced.

Drink 2024 – 2035. This is just starting to drink well now but has long ageing potential.

This winery is situated at 520ms altitude in the foothills of Mount Sila, Calabria’s highest mountain and annual winter ski destination! It is owned by the charming Raffaella Ciardullo, formerly an Italian teacher, and her husband Nicola, a lawyer. They grow mainly Nerello Mascalese, which is the famous grape of Mount Etna, and some Nerello Cappuccio grapes in their small vineyard paradise up in the hills above Cosenza. The vineyard looks like a mini amphitheatre. Lavender grows all around and olive and mountain pine trees surround the vines on all sides. Summers are hot in Calabria, but the high altitude and cooling wind which blows constantly from the nearby Mediterranean Sea, together with low night time temperatures, keep the grapes fresh and healthy.

The soils here are known as “terreno franco” – a The grapes are picked by hand, then vinified using wild yeasts and matured for 12-18 months in a mix of 225lt French oak barrels and large chestnut casks. The different lots are then blended and matured for a further three months in stainless steel tanks before bottling without the need for any filtration. It then spends a further 20 months in bottle before being released for sale.