Ippolito 1845 Mare Chiaro Ciro Bianco 2018
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#77 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2019
Bright straw yellow with pale green notes. Shows with an intense, persistent aroma of ripe tropical fruit, pear, peach and white flowers. The palate is fresh and Mediterranean with a charming mineral finish.
This wine pairs excellent with raw fish, pasta, grilled fish, and white meats.
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Wine Spectator
An aromatic, light-bodied white, with lip-smacking acidity and a subtly chalky texture, this offers flavors of melon, jasmine and pink grapefruit pith. Minerally finish. Drink now through 2022.
Other Vintages
2022- Vinous
Ippolito 1845 is one of the oldest continuous viticulture sites within Calabria, having been established over 170 years ago when Vincenzo Ippolito first carved his initials into the stonework outside his cottage in 1845 within the vineyards of Cirò. Though the region itself was heavily dedicated to ariguclture, all wines created were consumed locally. After World War I Don Vincenzo Ippolito, wishing to continue the legacy of his grandfather, returned filled with the desires to create and innovate. His first steps were to build the first modern cellar in Cirò, and over the years the industry for wine grew in the region, leading to the birth of their first two official labels, a Cirò Rosso and a Cirò Riserva, both bottled after ten years of aging in large chestnut barrels.
Following in their fathers footsteps, the two sons of Vincenzo, Antonio and Salvatore Ippolito, began to implement modern agriculture, with a drive towards mechanization without shrinking the value of quality. The first approaches to foreign markets begin with Germany and the United States. In Cirò in 1969 the grape varieties were identified as in Gaglioppo and Greco Bianco through the need for product specification for exporting. As the company continued to grow, the 60 ha of the hilly estate of Mancuso, in the heart of the DOC, was transformed into vineyards by planting only native varieties: Gaglioppo and Greco Bianco.
Now the company is run by their fifth generation, and is now made up of three estates in the heart of the Cirò DOC: Mancuso, Feudo and Difesa Piana, which span across a total of 100 hectares. These estates range in in vine age from being planted in 1972-2005, and sprawl from the rolling hills to the sunny flat lands budding up to the Ionian Sea. The soils consist of sandy-silt, alluvial, and limestone matrix. The winery has not lost sight of their focus on celebrating underrated and under-utilized indigenous grape varieties, therefore the vinayards are planted to the following: Gaglioppo, Greco Bianco, Calabrese and Pecorello.
A late-ripening, medium-bodied variety from Campania, Greco delivers a relatively high acidity and flaunts an invigorating mineral character alongside fresh citrus, stone fruitand herb flavors. Somm Secret—The name Tufo comes from the soft, volcanic rock found all over in the subsoil of the region where Greco thrives.
As the toe of Italy’s boot and closer in proximity to Sicily than any other mainland Italian region, Calabria holds much much in common with the island by way of climate, landscape and agriculture. Calabria’s principal red grape, Gaglioppo, is also a close relative of Sicily’s famous Nerello Mascalese.
Cirò, Calabria’s most valuable appellation, covers gently sloped hills on the Ionian Sea coast. Its wines are based on the indigenous red, Gaglioppo, and can be made as single varietal wines or blended with Cabernet or Merlot. Also of interest from Calabria is the red Maglioppo, likely a relative of Sangiovese. Whites here are made of Greco.