Sicilia
Gianni and Franco Calcagno's wines are back! An issue with trademark infringement forced them to re-brand in the USA as some other name, which is now Calcaneus. In addition, they have moved into a new, expanded and more modern winery and it shows in the wines. There is even greater clarity and precision in these new releases, yet the tell tale marks of organic, old vine viticulture is more than evident, it is amplified. The elevage in the cellar is moving to a greater use of large "Botte" and less reliance on neutral older barriques. As a relatively young winery (at least at a commercial level) recognition has been piling up fro their wines. Bibenda awarded the 2016 Rosato the award for the Best Rose wine in Italy! In his last article in Vinous about Sicily, Ian D'Agata had this to say, "Calcagno represents everything that Italy does so well in wine. An older generation of sharp, passionate individuals, a new one that is just as passionate and being intelligently worked into the estate’s mechanisms, a small vineyard holding in an exceptionally high quality viticultural area, and belief in local high quality native grape varieties" and in the prior report, "Gianni and Franco Calcagno lead a gem of an estate that has quickly risen to the top of Etna’s quality hierarchy, thanks to years of very precise, highly mineral red wines that speak clearly of Nerello Mascalese and the volcanic soils of Etna"