Eruption!

or many British people the sun-kissed they were told, or suffer watching the for local alcohol. Maybe there was a deeper Noble Rot spotlights islands of southern Europe conjure up gold-plated bandwagon trundle off into the attachment to tradition? Or perhaps they the best in volcanic F raucous images of the annual influx of distance. Comparing the world’s most- were just less interested in what happened to lads and ladettes on Club 18-30 holidays. I planted varieties in 1990 to 2010 be fashionable elsewhere at the time. island . Words by must admit to once being part of this lager- highlights the phenomenon: cabernet Regardless of the reasons, inhabitants of the swilling, Inbetweeners-esque armada, when, sauvignon jumped to first from eighth most Spanish, French, Italian and Greek islands Mark Andrew just after the turn of the millennium, a popular, and from seventh to second, repelled homogenisation far more similarly misguided cultural imperialism was while , , successfully than their mainland compatriots. taking place in the world of . By then the et al booted lesser-known like Today, however, in a bizarre twist of fate it popularity of ‘international’ styles, from ‘cult’ and mazuelo into oblivion. Local turns out that the island vignerons of cabernets to over-oaked chardonnays, had varieties were dead. Long live the southern Europe happen to have the very started to reach fever pitch and winemakers international grapes. things that a new generation of open-minded with planted to more obscure Yet word of this cultural coup d’état didn’t drinkers and want: ancient ‘traditional’ varieties had fallen out of fashion. seem to make it to the islands. It might’ve vineyards planted with unpronounceable local Rip up your vines and plant ‘noble’ grapes, been due to tourism and its insatiable demand grape varieties, in many cases farmed by

20 Noble Rot Noble Rot 21 free environment. As a result, some Located 300 miles north of Tenerife is vineyards are extremely old (300+ years) and Taut as a banjo string, Madeira, whose wines offer the same the quality of the fruit, spectacular. Spain’s indestructible quality and show-stopping Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa, with weight, depth and complexity that they have for centuries (see are a case in point. takes place on electric minerality, the I ♥ Maderia p.38), but our next stop is in the all the major islands here (to stunning effect Mediterranean, to another island that has on the dramatic moonscapes of Lanzarote), explosion of flavour in never been short on local pride: Corsica. but the wines of Tenerife provide by far the Back in 2013 respected American author and most excitement. The Valle do Orotava is Suertes del Marqués’ importer Kermit Lynch told Noble Rot how located in the northern half of the island, in he was “dazzled by Corsican wines,” and the the shadow of the mountain El Teide, Spain’s ‘Vidonia’ has to be tasted island can still claim to being one of southern highest peak. This creates a break that spares Europe’s most underrated wine regions. the southern half significant rainfall or cool to be believed. In the northern appellation of Patrimonio, winds and has kept the northern half cool and Antoine Arena crafts spectacular whites and wet, mercifully free of marauding tourists reds from and nielluccio (a local looking for a full English breakfast. “We’re variant of ), with the precision and located in the north and due to the height of elegance so often found in wines grown on Tenerife our weather is very fresh: we call it chalky limestone soils. Further south, the ‘Atlantic’,” says Jonatan García Lima, island’s other star domaine – Comte founder of the island’s finest , Suertes d’Abbatucci – is another source of fervent del Marqués. “Our idea is to make wines that local pride. Run today by the descendents of represent our place so it is important to show General Abbatucci (one of Napoléon’s closest our volcanic . We’re always looking for allies), 20 hectares of various indigenous minerality”. His wine’s laser-like focus is the varieties are farmed biodynamically, yielding result of old, ungrafted vines that are grown complex and ageworthy wines. Like Arena’s, at some of the highest altitudes in Europe, the Abbatucci wines brim with crystalline Suertes del Marqués’Jonatan García Lima and is evident in both the reds (dominated by vitality and the aromas of the maquis the grape listán negro) and the mouth- scrubland which dominates Corsica’s skilled winemakers producing special wines. watering whites (made from listán blanco). mountainous interior. Whites that erupt with minerality evoking However, as delicious as the reds are, it is the Due south of Corsica is the island of their volcanic soils. Reds that burst with ripe white wines that Noble Rot often yearns to Sardinia, long the source of excellent fruit, balanced by a mountainous, herb- drink. Suertes’ ‘Trenzado’ and ‘Taganan value wines made primarily from infused freshness. Sweet and fortified wines Blanco’ from Envinate (a separate project run vermentino and cannonau (the local, and some reminiscent of the vinous glories of by Roberto Santana, winemaker and believe original, version of noir). yesteryear, when Shakespeare drank manager at Suertes) are both Recently, producers like Giovanni Montisci, ‘Canary’, Americans toasted the Declaration superb, laced with flint, gunsmoke and way Gianfranco Manca and Alessandro Dettori of Independence with Madeira, and Sicilian more acidity than you’d expect from have begun to demonstrate the potential for Marsala was celebrated far and wide. (listán’s better-known synonym, and Jerez’s serious quality on Sardinia, even if thus far On some islands, the presence of an active most common grape). Taut as a banjo string, the region has yet to make quite the same volcano contributes to producing wines that with weight, depth and electric minerality, impression as its fellow Italian island, are unique: volcanic soils have extremely low the explosion of flavour in Suertes del Sicily, where Mount Etna in particular is levels of organic matter, causing vines to Marqués’ ‘Vidonia’ has to be tasted to be home to numerous world-class wines (see struggle for nourishment, and a - believed. Frank Cornelissen & The Mount Etna

22 Noble Rot Noble Rot 23 Revolution p.40). Over on Sicily’s west coast, Our final stop is to the country that boasts Santorini, for one, is a place that needs no Marco De Bartoli is the leading producer of more islands than Spain, and Italy introduction. Images of the sunset at Oia and the island’s most traditional wine, Marsala, combined – Greece. East into the Ionian and views over the caldera are staples of whilst in the south east Ariana Occhipinti (see Aegean seas, the blues seem bluer than television holiday shows all over the world, The Sicilian p.56) and Cos make wines of anywhere else and the whitewashed walls of but for those who have fallen in love with its complexity and sheer drinkability that draw towns teetering on cliff faces speak of the white wines made from , it’s on the island’s best indigenous varieties and precarious nature of life in the region. amazing that they still constitute such a niche old school techniques. The centrepiece of this Although the danger here has been of the proposition. Stefanos Georgas, Estate quest for authenticity is the amphora room at economic variety most recently, in the past Manager at Argyros, one of the island’s Cos, where they age grecanico (for Pithos there have been erupting volcanoes, tidal leading , says that “Santorini is Bianco), nero d’Avola and frappatto (for waves and vicious armies of Ottomans for the synonymous with the word terroir,” and Pithos Rosso) in earthenware jars buried to islanders to contend with. It’s curious how a thanks to some extremely old vines and a the neck. Winemaker Giusto Occhipinti country with one of the world’s richest vinous unique set of geological and climactic (Ariana’s uncle) says that amphorae “allow the histories has come to be so marginalised influences, the wines can have as wine to breath,” without imparting any of the today: the superb quality of what is being much of a terroir imprint as any flavours of ’ and the results of this ancient produced on several of the Greek islands Noble Rot has tasted. The salinity way of wine making are always intriguing. deserves much closer attention. and volcanic energy that surges through the best examples of dry assyrtiko (those of estates Argyros, Hatzidakis and Sigalas) is matched by a weight that promises years of evolution. Then there are the sweet muscats of Samos, Stefanos sums it up in more elemental terms. which continue to offer far more interest than “Earth, wind, fire and sea. These four words their low prices suggest, or the whites made explain everything about the unique from ‘Robola of Kefalonia’, some of which character of assyrtiko from Santorini,” he show a great deal of promise. says. Noble Rot has yet to drink any seriously Whilst many people might be rightly wary old bottles, but based on the conventions that of any suggestion that island wines are ‘the we judge other wines by, the best Santorini next big thing’, thankfully we’re not talking assyrtikos can be cellared alongside their about mass-produced Prosécco or cousins from Burgundy, the Loire and the Argentinian here. There isn’t a huge Mosel Valley. There are also some stunning volume produced of the best wines, nor the sweet wines made from assyrtiko – the familiarity with the raw materials to make original Vinsanto – and an indigenous red these grapes and wineries household names variety called mavrotragano that is overnight. But southern Europe’s islands justifiably turning heads for its structured offer a maritime world of interest and finesse. Other Greek islands have plenty to deliciousness to discover, with unfamiliar offer too. Crete is home to numerous flavours and textures, and bottles that interesting indigenous grape varieties and, in promise to develop complexity after a few Yiannis Economou, one of the years in the cellar. That should be enough to Mediterranean’s finest winemakers. His reds satisfy a new open-minded generation of and whites call ’s ultra-traditional López drinkers and sommeliers, who are enjoying de Heredia to mind, and any lover of these brilliant volcanic island wines without a authentic wines should seek them out. Club 18-30 holidaymaker in sight.

Noble Rot visits Cos’ amphora room, Vittoria, Sicily

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