The ‘Damis’ Riserva is far and away the most profound wine to emerge from the Du Cropio estate and likely one of the true benchmarks of the Cirò region. Produced exclusively from the Gaglioppo grape planted to steep hillside vineyards above and around the village of Cirò in the hills above the sea, Damis is drawn from a fastidious selection of the best grapes from the harvest. In the cellar, Ippolito takes his time, allowing the juice to macerate on the grape skins for several weeks, feeling that this helps polymerize Gaglioppo’s often brawny tannin profile, resulting in a fruitier wine with less bitterness. Primary fermentation occurs in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks, with the wine spending an extended stint in large oak botte prior to bottling. Ripe cherry fruit, sweet and dusty notes of earth, with a distinctly Mediterranean herbaceousness (thyme, sage, rosemary) throughout. The palate skews earthier than the nose, though still underpinned by bright cherry and plum. After 8 years of development, tannins are now well-integrated with a streaky core of acidity lending apt reflection of the wine’s age. The finish is long and kaleidoscopic, with a distinctive sour cherry note that seems to speak of a love child between Sangiovese and Nebbiolo.
Giuseppe Ippolito farms his family estate, a property on Calabria’s southeastern coast known as Du Cropio, or ‘doctors of agronomy,’ a moniker that nods to the many generations of growers and farmers in the Ippolito family that came before him. The ‘secret’ to Giuseppe’s ability to coax the best out of his terroir and into a bottle is all in the vineyards: located in the inner hills of Calabria’s famed Cirò DOC, a few miles from the coast, here, both elevation and oceanic influence allow cool nights to mitigate southern Italy’s long, hot days. Even so, picking at exactly the right time, during peak balance between sugars and acidity and tannin, is crucial. A week too early and Gaglioppo emerges thin and austere, a week too late and the wines quickly become overly ripe, jammy and lacking in structure or tension; this is why Giuseppe spends countless hours in the vineyards, and the results are revelatory. Comparing these wines to Nerello Mascalese on Etna or Nebbiolo in Barolo is an easy way to bridge the stylistic gap to this lesser known region, though regardless, Ippolito’s wines truly unique expressions of this sunsoaked, southerly terroir and the Gaglioppo grape that made the short journey here from Greece over 3000 years ago.