The Val di Noto sits in the southeast corner of the Sicilian triangle, dipping down to almost the same latitudes as some of the state’s North African neighbors. In spite of this sub-tropical climate, many of Sicily’s local grape specialties - grapes like Zibbibo (a Moscato family member), Grillo and Frappato - are capable of producing wines of balance and freshness, especially with terroirs of limestone-dominant soils, and especially when in the right hands - like, the hands of Dario Serrentino. After many years of selling his grapes to local, low-intervention stalwarts like Frank Cornelissen and Lamoresca, the dawn of 2014 saw Dario make the call to begin vinifying his own wines. Working his family’s 15 hectares of vines (as well as olive and almond groves – his heirloom almonds were actually his first love), he turns out immaculately farmed fruit that translates into wines with a level of freshness and verve that are not often seen in these parts. There’s never been any chemical interventions in the vineyards, and there’s an intentional hands-off approach in the cellar, with a minimum of sulfur added at bottling. Avoiding the entrapments of the glou-glou or overwrought luxury style, Dario is part of a very small contingent of producers in Sicily producing fine and natural wines, or as Dario poetically likes to say: mare e terra in vino.
A relatively new addition to the Mortellito stable, the 'Tutto' Rosso is a jazzy little co-ferment of both red and white grapes, containing a little of all (i.e. 'tuttu') the grape varieties that Dario works with. Fermentation is with native yeasts, and everything is raised in stainless steel Dominated by Nero d'Avola, with smaller percentages of Grillo, Insolia, Frappato and Catarratto, the Tuttu is packed with vibrant red, pink, and black fruit – think guava, salted blood plum, feijoa, black currant – speared with a vein of zinging acid. A perfectly briny element of herbal, sea-breeziness to take this from ‘chillable, glug-glug’ juice to the ideal backyard BBQ companion this late summer.