Racina
지역: 이탈리아 Calabria, Italy
1년 총 생산량: 약 4.000
Racina is located in Calabria, a region deep south in Italy. The estate is in a small village just a bit north of Reggio Calabria right in front of Messina straight that separates Sicily from Calabria on the so know Costa Viola (Purple coast). Purple as the color of the water during the evening.
The climate in this area of Calabria is very hot, with seasonal summer drought. The winters are not so cold but constantly with a strong Tramontana wind. As the cold wind coming from north is called.
The vines are on old terraces and so are the vines, planted with bush style (albarello), franc de pied. Basically, as was the practice over 100 years ago in this area.
Each plant has its own story and only who know well its own vineyard can make the best of it understanding the potential and characteristic of each plant.
The vines belonged to his family for generations and the story that brough Carmelo to spend more and more time in the field rather than in bank (he is a bank teller) was his drinking experience. For years he drunk his family wines and other good but classic conventional wines. He thought these wines were good but boring. At a certain point he discovered natural wines and started drinking is short time what he missed for his last 20 years. This allowed him to build a knowledge and a benchmark to understand what unique and incredible things the winemakers could make. Trying thousands of natural wines not only increased his enthusiasm to realize amazing wines but allowed him to build a palate and understanding of this world. I guess this experience helped him a lot to make fantastic wines.
Carmelo Racina Winery Manifesto is: Only Supernatural wines; not only for their amazing and stunning taste but also for the extreme natural philosophy in the vines and in the cellar. In the cellar 100% grape juice and nothing added. Never adding sulfites. Ancient knowledge and terroir with contemporary natural wine making knowledge.
How did I meet Carmelo?
I went to visit another winemaker (Traclo’) and I was on the way to Scilla fisherman village located in the coast. I heard about Racina and some of my wine lover friend of Milano recommended me this winery however I was skeptical. Then since there was traffic on the highway I decided to call Carmelo and finally met him at his home. It was a luck shot! His wine surprised both me and Soyoung. I was very impressed and reminded me of the nuance of Giotto Bini Zibibbo of Pantelleria wines. We both loved it.
It was also a chance to understand him better, his story and how he became a “good” supernatural winemaker.
Good Job Carmelo, you surprised us! We could not imagine finding such a good winemaker.
