mortellito

“a desert next to the beach ”

Domaine Overview

Year Founded: 1994

Winemaker: Michel Theron

Location: Arsac, Bordeaux

Size: 7 hectares

Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Carmenere, Petit Verdot
Farming: Biodynamic certified (Demeter)

Production: About 20,000 bottles/year

Mortellito [MORT-el-li-to] is in Val di Noto*, in the corner of Sicily that lies at the same latitudes as North Africa’s arid desert climate. Its vineyards are a few kilometers from the coast, with grooves of ancient olive and almonds trees breaking the wind off the sea. Abandoned and still working fishing ports dot the landscape. Owner Dario Serrentino has always enjoyed the contrasts of this coastal growing area, which he calls ‘a desert next to the beach.’ Over the years, lucky for us, he’s learned to coax extremely elegant wines from this receding coast of limestone, which, he says, is ‘the magic to produce wines with tension, freshness, and complex salinity.’  In Dario’s best vintages, his rosso and bianco wines have a tapering, svelte finish, that’s cool and salt-dusted.  Drinking them is akin to a dive into the nearby Ionian sea on a hot summer day.

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 sulphur 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.

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The Wines

Mortellito ‘Calaiancu’ Bianco Terre Siciliane

The resulting wine is a light lemon color in the glass, with a nose that is zesty and full of flavors like salted apricot, citrus peel, and zingy green herbs. These aromas give way to flavors of saline, lemon-drops, and lemon grass on the palate. This refreshing start sets the stage for the wine's palate, which is equally enticing. On the palate, the wine delivers flavors of saline, lemon-drops, and lemon grass, which are complemented by a lovely, savory/sweet note of tangerine on the finish. This combination of flavors creates a beautifully balanced wine that is both bright and lively.

Mortellito ‘Viarìa’ Moscato Bianco Terre Siciliane

Svelte bodied wine, with beautiful bright acidity balanced against soft tropical fruit. A whiff of salty sea air lends a slight saline finish.

Mortellito ‘Calaniuru’ Rosso Terre Siciliane

On the nose hints of graphite and black pepper, ripe red fruit, cocoa and tobacco, a wine far from pandering stereotypes. In the mouth, freshness and tension are felt with every sip with a finish of dried fruit and blood orange.

Mortellito ‘Tuttu’ Rosso Terre Siciliane

Bursting with bright red fruits and herbal wafts, this tight tannin blend delivers a fresh, juicy acidity that finishes with a slightly saline, cranberry crunch. Described as “Svelte” bodied, and “lip-smacking.”