{"title":"Marco de Bartoli","description":"\u003cp\u003eVery few winemakers can be said to have saved an entire wine category. Marco de Bartoli is one of them. When he returned to his family's baglio in Samperi in the late 1970s, Marsala had become synonymous with cooking wine and industrial production. He set out, with characteristic tenacity, to change that, and largely succeeded.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarco de Bartoli grew up working the family farm near Marsala before his love of speed took him to professional circuit racing. When his racing career wound down, he returned to the baglio his grandmother had inherited from the Pellegrino wine family, a property with ancient cellar infrastructure and old solera barrels that local farmers had been selling off for years. Marco bought back what he could find and began reconstructing the estate's wine tradition in the early 1980s. He focused on restoring the in perpetuum method, a perpetual blending system similar to sherry's solera, that had been the foundation of traditional Marsala before British merchants introduced fortification in the 18th century. His creation, Vecchio Samperi, is an unfortified wine of Grillo aged in a solera system spanning dozens of vintages, with a 20-vintage average blend at any given release.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMore on how they farm and work in the cellar in our \u003ca href=\"\/blogs\/natural-wine-producers-primal-wine\/marco-de-bartoli\"\u003eMarco de Bartoli producer profile\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"bukkuram-passito-marco-de-bartoli-natural-wine","title":"Marco de Bartoli Bukkuram Passito 2012","description":"\u003cp\u003ePadre della Vigna is the top-tier bottling from Marco de Bartoli's Bukkuram estate on the island of Pantelleria, released only in select vintages when conditions allow full ripeness. The Zibibbo vines — planted between 1950 and 1970 in Contrada Bukkuram on the southwest face of the island — grow as low, free-standing bush vines (vite ad alberello pantesco) on volcanic, terraced slopes at roughly 200 meters above sea level. UNESCO recognized this bush-vine system as Intangible Agricultural Heritage in 2014. Vine density is 2,500 per hectare with yields capped at 25 hectoliters per hectare.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe harvest runs from mid-August through the first week of September. Half the fruit is hand-picked in August and laid on woven mats within thick volcanic-stone enclosures to dry in the sun for a minimum of three weeks, concentrating sugars and aromatics. The remaining half is left on the vines to continue ripening until September. Once fermentation of the fresh grapes begins, the sun-dried raisined grapes are added and macerate together for up to three months, until a natural balance between alcohol and residual sugar is achieved. The 2012 vintage carries 194.7 g\/L residual sugar and 6.5 g\/L total acidity, with total sulfur at 99 mg\/L.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing fermentation and extended maceration, the wine ages for 42 months in French oak barriques (225L) followed by six months in stainless steel before bottling. The result is deep mahogany-amber in color. Aromas run toward dried apricot, dates, candied orange peel, espresso, cardamom, and nougat, with a persistent saline mineral thread running through the palate. Sweetness is anchored by a live, citrus-driven acidity that prevents heaviness. Bottled in 500ml format.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Marco de Bartoli","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39425787363527,"sku":"DEBABUKK12C","price":90.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0019\/3363\/9735\/files\/marco-de-bartoli-bukkuram-passito-di-pantelleria-natural-wine-primal-wine-natural-wine-primal-wine-copyright.png?v=1781128351"}],"url":"https:\/\/primalwine.com\/collections\/marco-de-bartoli.oembed","provider":"Primal Wine","version":"1.0","type":"link"}