Marco De Bartoli - 1988 Marsala Superiore Vergine Riserva (500ml)
Marco De Bartoli Description
100% Grillo. The Superiore Riserva1988 is the top of the three-wine line of Marsalas that begins with "La Miccia" 5-Year and continues with the 10-Year Riserva. the 1988 is essentially a longer-aged, more oxidatively aged version of the 10-Year.
As with all of De Bartoli's Marsalas, the only grape used is Grillo, grown organically and harvested by hand on the De Bartoli estate in Marsala in the Sicilian contrada of Samperi. The wine was fermented with natural yeasts and aged in oak and chestnut vats in the solera system, topped with new wine at the rate of 5% of the total volume annually. In 1989, the wine that ended up in this bottle was removed from the solera. It was lightly fortified and sweetened with mistella, a mixture of fresh De Bartoli Grillo must and Grillo brandy, and then aged untopped, thus oxidatively, in barrel. Superiore riserva by law requires a minimum aging of 4 years before bottling; this one was aged for 26 years, starting in 1989 and ending at bottling in 2014.
-- Importer website