Mutiliana "Ibbola" 2018 Sangiovese Romagna
Mutiliana "Ibbola" 2018 Sangiovese Romagna
750ml bottle
13% abv
REGION: Romagna
GROWING AREA: Modigliana
FARMING: Practising organic
VINEYARD: 4 Ha in the Ibola valley
ALTITUDE: 500 m / 1,640 ft
SOILS: sandy soils originated from the crumbles of marl and sandstones
VARIETIES: 100% Sangiovese
VINE AGE: 17 years old
VINE TRAINING: Cordon trained
HARVEST DATE: between the end of September and the beginning of October
YEASTS: Native
FERMENTATION & ÉLEVAGE: Spontaneous fermentation, with a 40 days maceration on the skins, in stainless steel tanks. Élevage in cement.
MALOLACTIC FERMENTATION: Yes, complete, without any addition
SULPHUR: 30 mg/l added SO2, at the end of the fermentation, a second time in January and at bottling in April.
ANNUAL PRODUCTION: 200 cases
Ibola: two vineyards in Modigliana totaling 4 hectares; both are owned by Villa Papiano. Francesco Bordini (winemaker and agronomist at Villa Papiano) is Giorgio Melandri's partner for Mutiliana. Ibbola is the highest valley with the most extreme topography– very narrow, acutely angled, steep valley walls. Here the sandstone is very pure with little marl. The vines grow at 600m, and are surrounded by woods that play a role in the quality of the grapes. Grapes mature later here than the other sites; harvested in late October. Cool fruited, super minerally; minimalist. As a side note, Giorgio makes a unique4 Pinot Noir from this vineyard, with an alluring cinnabar color and lithesome acidity.
Modigliana [Mo-DILL-ee-anna] is a relatively undiscovered high altitude sub-zone for Sangiovese, comparable to Radda or Lamole in Chianti, and the winery Mutiliana, tucked in the rustic Apennines mountains of Romagna, is quickly becoming a reference point
producer.
Mutiliana [moo-TIL-ee-anna] is owned by local resident Giorgio Melandri, who is transitioning from a career as a wine journalist to grower and cellar master. His aim has been to search for old vineyards of high altitude Sangiovese grown on marl and sandstone soils, and he decided to buy and long-term lease them one by one. Giorgio is meticulous and hands on: he watches over the grapes basking in the cool sun all summer into the fall, he then leaves the fermentations to go as long as possible, tasting the wines from tank each morning for up to a month. He doesn’t press until all the flowers and herbs he saw in the summer come back into focus in his tasting glass.
Giorgio currently bottles a Sangiovese within each valley of the Modigliana sub-zone: Acerreta, Ebola, and Tramazzo. All the wines have amaro-like botanical notes (dried sage, eucalyptus, cedar) intermixed with acid driven fruits (sour cherry, blood orange, and pomegranate). This is terroir-driven Sangiovese that few are familiar with. Yes, these are heady wines, yet they also haven’t lost their mountain-grown spirit.