2015 Catartico Longarico: A Splendid Sicilian Orange Wine
We finally uncorked the 2015 Longarico Catartico, a Sicilian “natural wine” produced in Alcamo near the Bosco d’Alcamo Nature Reserve, by cousins Sergio and Luigi Stalteri.
We are 350 meters above sea level, a few kilometers further north. If you move a few steps, you will arrive at the Temple of Segesta. If you have never been to this land, you have missed one of the most beautiful corners of Italy.
The landscape is magnificent, at times lunar, with green, yellow, and silver patches that flicker in the sun. It seems all pristine, then you turn around and see some imposing remains of the 5th century BC.
And the wine produced in these hills is a masterpiece, the Cathartic of the Longarico winery is obviously in an IGT. No banal and pedestrian DOC could summarize and contain the energy of this wine that has clear artisan origins.
It is a small masterpiece of goldsmithing. After all, the cellar produces just 8000 bottles, and each is pampered and produced with great care.
But after all this babbling, let’s sip this wine, a rocky wine, with character and an attitude that slaps you gracefully.
It is a Catarratto that, after the harvest, ferments in steel, without temperature controls with maceration of 3 days, and then goes to rest in large chestnut barrels for 6 months on the fine lees.
The sulfur addition is ridiculous; it is not filtered or clarified. It will please vegan readers or even those who do not like to find junk that no one specifies on the label.
It is an opulent, angular wine, endowed with great charm and breath, at times edgy but graceful, always declined with grace.
It demonstrates that Sicilian wines can aspire to depth and typicality. There are not only zappy and salty white wines like the waves of the sea but also the wine of the hinterland. The most visceral one, which in addition to the sea, makes you see the pines, the rocks, and the wildflowers.
Especially in an area like Alcamo, which is essential but anonymous and dominated by styles now dictated more by commercial logic than true peasant art.
Here this is a wine that has peasant roots. It is a genuine wine, but technically flawless, formed by a sensitive hand, which is not wrong.
A wine with a soul.
Once again, calling it natural wine would be reductive and misleading. It is an intimate wine that reflects a bond between man and territory, another worthy representative of the humanism of wine.
The bouquet
Sharp and variegated nose dominated by candied oranges, quince, rocks, yellow flowers, endless dried fruit, and then salty hints of iodine, pine, and balsamic finish with aromatic herbs and resin. Excellent persistence. There are no smudges.
The flavor
On the palate, it is sharp, but it moves with agility, deep enough and driven by an excellent savory charge that plays down all the richness of suggestions that it brings with it.
Never slow or sloppy. The Mediterranean scrub finish is stunningly beautiful.
Concluding, this Catartico Longarico 2015 is an excellent wine. It is ready, of course, but still young. It is not a wine born to be drunk immediately: its ambition moves its potential forward by at least 2-3 years, although it would be nice to try it in 10.
Like Denavolo, they are wines that change over time, telling a different story. To have one for the next 20 years.
Price
22-25 euros, a fair price for a well-made bottle.
Food Pairings
Parmigiana ravioli, spaghetti with clams, chicken tikka masala, Chicken Cacciatore, Vitello Tonnato, truffle risotto, pasta alla carbonara.