2017 Syrah Vigna Grande

After 25 years living in Graves and Bordeaux, and with experience making wines in South Africa, Bordeaux and Hungary, Peter Vinding-Diers came to Italy and finally settled in Sicily in 2005 to start Montecarrubo. Vinding-Diers got his start through vineyards leased in Noto, sourcing Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, while organizing the planting of his own vines around the estate. In 2010, with Syrah clippings from Hermitage, he planted two vineyards in a mix of volcanic soils: the one-hectare Vigna Grande and the three-hectare Vignolo, which are only a hundred meters apart from each other, yet yield completely different expressions. Farming is, and has always been, done following Rudolf Steiner’s biodynamic principles, though this isn’t something that Vinding-Diers necessarily advertises. Now, 10 years later, nearly everything continues to be done by hand as the vines mature, showing tremendous potential. In the winery, spontaneous fermentations are used, without any inclusion of stems at this time, and both Syrahs are refined for nine months in Burgundy-style barrels from Ermitage or Berthomieu. During my tastings I was able to look back to the first bottlings from 2012 and compare them to the current vintages and the 2017, which really shows the growing potential of this estate.