Tasca d’Almerita’s Rosso del Conte: 1979&nbsp;–&nbsp;2012

BY IAN D'AGATA | OCTOBER 11, 2017

For the longest time, Sicily’s Tasca
d’Almerita’s Rosso del Conte was (along with Mastroberardino’s Taurasi) southern
Italy’s greatest and most famous red wine. Besides showcasing the merits of the
island’s Nero d’Avola grape, Rosso del Conte proved that Italy’s south could
also produce world class, age-worthy reds. Rosso del Conte was also the first
single vineyard wine ever produced in Sicily.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1507737407816-1-A+view+from+the+Tasca+estate.jpg"> A view from the Tasca estate 

The Estate and the Birth of Rosso del Conte

Tasca d’Almerita has a long and
distinguished winemaking history. The family bought the Regaleali estate,
located in central Sicily, about an hour and a half south of Palermo, in 1830.
Today Tasca d’Almerita farms over 500 hectares divided up between five
different properties in Sicily, of which Regaleali is one.

Count Giuseppe Tasca d’Almerita was
a huge fan of the wines of Bordeaux and Châteauneuf-du-Pape and visited both regions.
Tasca was convinced that Sicily could make a wine that was every bit as good as
those of the southern Rhône, and set out to produce a wine that, like those,
would be a blend of different grapes but from a single, very specific, high
quality site.

The wine
that came to be known as Rosso del Conte was born after a series of
experimental vinifications performed over the course of three years by Count Giuseppe
Tasca d’Almerita. Initially, Tasca referred to the wine as the “supermarca”, as he wasn’t sure the wine
would ever be good enough for him to call it with his name, as “Regaleali
Riserva del Conte”. Actually, the wine turned out better than expected, and so
the name stuck until 1977, when the “Riserva” moniker was dropped and the
wine’s name shortened to “Rosso del Conte” (or in English, “the red wine of the
Count”). In 2010 a Riserva Rosso del Conte was made once again as a special
commemorative bottling. 

Through
trial and error, Tasca identified the San Lucio vineyard as the ideal site for his
Rosso del Conte. Ironically, the vineyard had always been planted mainly to Perricone,
another local Sicilian native red grape, plus Nero d’Avola. Three and a half
hectares large, the vineyard was first planted in 1954, and again in 1959 and
1965. Only recently a large swath of this truly beautiful vineyard has been
replanted, with the thin shoots of the young vines clinging to supporting canes
providing a stark contrast to the very thick gnarly old bush vines from the
original plantings. San Lucio’s oldest vines were planted by Giuseppe Tasca d’Almerita
himself, who named the vineyard in honor of his father, Lucio. The vineyard
sits at an altitude of 480 meters above sea level and is characterized by an
essentially yellow-brown mainly sandy soil. The microclimate (not just of the
San Lucio vineyard but of Regaleali in general) is cooler than that of many
other parts of Sicily. For example, the harvest at Regaleali occurs roughly
twenty days after it does on the Sicilian coast (depending on the vintage) and
diurnal temperature variations are strong (there can be as much as a 20-25°C
difference between day and night temperatures.) The grapes therefore benefit
from generally longer hang times than in most viticultural areas of Sicily and
southern Italy. Today, a small portion of the grapes that go into Rosso del
Conte can also come from a few other nearby vineyards as well, but for the most
part the wine speaks of the San Lucio terroir.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1507735586286-2-Vineyards+of+Nero+d%27Avola+at+Tasca+d%27Almerita.jpg"> Vineyards of Nero d'Avola at Tasca d'Almerita 

The Wine (and Perricone’s Place in History)

Rosso del Conte is generally
regarded as an archetypical Nero d’Avola wine, and so it will surprise many
readers to know that, originally it was a wine made more with Perricone than with
Nero d’Avola. In a story similar to many others you’ll hear all over Italy time
and again, Perricone is another of the many local Italian native red grapes of
which the outstanding winemaking potential has only recently been “rediscovered.”
In fact, Tasca d’Almerita have been so smitten with Perricone’s merits that the
estate started producing a monovariety Perricone wine called Guarnaccio three
years ago.

Historically, Perricone was always
abundantly planted in Sicilian vineyards either on its own (it is the variety
used to make Ruby Marsala) or along with Nero d’Avola. This was typically done
not just because planting Perricone allowed farmers to hedge their bets in
years when Nero d’Avola (a variety that doesn’t like excessive humidity and wet
conditions) risked producing less, but also because Perricone is Nero d’Avola’s
ideal blending partner. Not surprisingly, all those in Sicily – and there are
many – who have planted hectares and hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon, or even
worse, Merlot, a variety that does poorly in Sicily’s hotter areas, beg to
disagree. Much like Canaiolo Nero in Tuscany and Malvasia Nera in Puglia have
long been used to add a little something to wines mainly made with Sangiovese
and Negro Amaro respectively, so it is with Perricone and Nero d’Avola. Perricone
turns out to be the perfect soulmate of Nero d’Avola for at least a few
reasons. First, Nero d’Avola tends to produce wines with high natural acidity
(pHs of 3-3.3 are not unheard of), because it’s a variety especially rich in
tartaric acid, which unlike malic acid, is not eliminated by putting the wine
through malolactic transformation. Therefore, a little Perricone goes a long way
in helping soften the finished wine. Second, Nero d’Avola wines are not
especially tannic, while monovariety Perricone wines are usually tough when
young. Therefore, adding Perricone to Nero d’Avola provides a firmer tannic spine
and welcome backbone.

The early vintages of Rosso del
Conte &nbsp;(the wine was first made in 1970)
were roughly a 60%-40 % Perricone/Nero d’Avola blend. With the 1976 vintage,
Rosso del Conte became a mainly Nero d’Avola wine, although I have never really
been able to ferret out a satisfactory explanation from anyone as to why this
happened. In any case, Rosso del Conte became a roughly 90%-10% blend of Nero
d’Avola and Perricone (though often the Perricone was much less than that)
which is the Rosso del Conte we know today. Other important moments in the history
of Rosso del Conte that are worth remembering are the end of the 1980s, when
the large chestnut wood barrels in which the wine had been aged up until then (from
1970 to 1987) were replaced by large Slavonian oak casks, and then the early to
mid-1990s, when French oak tonneaux
and barriques came into favor over the
larger casks as the aging vessels of choice (the small barrels were first used
with the 1992 vintage).<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1507735625871-4-da+bottles.jpg"> 

Two thousand-four is the beginning
of what has always been in my view a dark period for Rosso del Conte. In the
vintages that followed, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah were added in
varying proportions to the Rosso del Conte blend, based on repeat tastings of
the different barrels. The stated, understandable, goal was to make the finest red
wine possible using all of the estate’s best grapes. In my view, Rosso del
Conte lost a bit of its unique personality in those years. Additions of the
international grapes peaked at close to 30% of the total blend with the 2006
vintage, although Alberto Tasca told me that for the most part, international
grapes only rarely amounted to more than 8-10% of the final blend. That said, I
think there are some Rosso del Conte vintages that are strongly marked by notes
of cedar, graphite, herbs and coffee, in which the presence of Cabernet
Sauvignon (especially) seems much higher than 10%. In any event, those years in
which the green elements and tough tannins dominate are not my favorite Rosso
del Contes, although clearly others who cared less about somewhereness in wines
weren’t quite as miffed as I was. With the 2009 vintage, Rosso del Conte returned
to being predominantly a Nero d’Avola/Perricone blend, but as it was a
difficult vintage, the estate decided not to release the wine).

The 2010 vintage is an especially
significant one for Rosso del Conte. In honor of the wine’s 40th anniversary,
Tasca d’Almerita decided to once again make a wine following the original blend.
That year, Tasca d’Almerita bottled a Rosso del Conte “normale” along with a special commemorative Riserva del Conte bottling
that is, once again, a 60%-40% Perricone-Nero d’Avola blend and aged in chestnut
wood barrels. This special commemorative bottling was met with so much success (and
rightly so) that Alberto Tasca d’Almerita tells me the family will likely
produce a Riserva del Conte again in the future. The Riserva will continue to
be a mainly Perricone wine aged in chestnut wood barrels, but in his estimation
it will be made only in powerful, exceptional years because chestnut wood is
too dominant and strongly marks the finished wine with potentially bitter
elements.

Commemorative special bottlings
aside, Rosso del Conte has always been Tasca d’Almerita’s flagship. Like most
important wines, Rosso del Conte is made only in the best years, and therefore
was not produced in 1972, 1973, 1976, 1996 and 2009. Production is 30-40,000
bottles, depending on the vintage. ­­Growing conditions are really important
with Rosso del Conte, as the wine never strikes me as being especially
successful in overly hot years, most likely because Nero d’Avola and Perricone
are both late-ripening varieties. Therefore seasons that are too hot heavily
curtail the buildup of aromatic molecule precursors that derive with prolonged
hang time and embellish the finished wine with noteworthy perfume and
complexity. In ultimate analysis, when Rosso del Conte is good, it is one of
Italy’s greatest, most complex red wines. The new Riserva del Conte is
potentially an exceptional wine I look forward to tasting more and more vintages
of in the future.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1507735673627-3-tasca+cellar+and+bottles.jpg"> Alberto Tasca during the tasting 

The wines in this tasting were
sourced directly from the estate and tasted in September 2016. They were tasted
from oldest to youngest in the company of Alberto Tasca d’Almerita, who prefers
to taste them in this manner. Readers might also like to refer to the a <a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/tasca-d-almerita-rosso-del-conte-1979-2006-mar-2010">similar
vertical</a> reported on by Antonio Galloni seven years ago; I thought
it would be fascinating to check up on this wine after all this time and see
how it has been evolving, plus add in a few new, significant, vintages given
all the changes that have taken place, for comparison’s sake.

<a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/wines?sort%5Bdirection%5D=asc&amp;sort%5Bname%5D=id&amp;wine_filter%5Barticle_id%5D=1739&amp;wine_filter%5Bproducer_id%5D=22902&amp;producer=true">See the Wines in the Order Tasted, from Oldest to
Youngest</a>

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