Winemaker Peter Vinding-Diers is a challenger
for the title of the Most Interesting Man in the World. In the '60s, the Danish
Vinding-Diers served as a war correspondent reporting from Vietnam, Aden,
Malaya, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Nigeria. Then he started making wine--first in
South Africa, and then in Bordeaux, Brazil, Kenya, Spain, Chile, and Hungary.
Even more impressive, he essentially revitalized Graves in the '80s, reinvented
Hungarian Tokaj in the early '90s, and in the late '90s, he invigorated Ribera
del Duero when he prompted his nephew Peter Sisseck to start a new venture
there, the now-renowned estate Pingus. Most recently, Peter has landed in
Sicilia, where he makes stunning Syrahs at his estate Montecarrubo.
Montecarrubo exemplifies why Sicilian wines
are hot right now. Sicilia competes with Puglia for being Italy's biggest
producer of wine, but while much of Sicilia's wine has been bulk, the last
couple of decades have seen a rise in small, artisanal producers who carefully
tend their vines to imbue their wines with Sicilia's unusual volcanic terroir.
Most, however, have chosen to grow indigenous grapes like Nerello Mascalese and
Nero d'Avola, so even among these boutique producers Vinding-Diers, with his
choice to grow Syrah, stands out.
In 2006, Vinding-Diers leased three hectares
of twenty-year-old Syrah vines near Ispica, and he used these vines to craft
the first five vintages of his Montecarrubo wines. These are wines that bring
the very best of Sicilia's wild, mineral, unique nature together with the
masculine nuance of the Cote du Rhone, but they're only the beginning. The
peripatetic Peter is putting down roots in Sicilia, converting an old stable
into a modern, state-of-the-art winery, planting more Syrah, adding Grenach and
thinking about planting a hectare of white as well. We look forward to the
ever-expanding Montecarrubo line, and we're pretty sure that as soon as you
drink a glass of Vinding-Diers' Syrah, you will too.
Montecarrubo offers perhaps the finest
expression of Syrah in Italy. It's rich, full-bodied, a wine whose unusual
blend of elegance and wildness suggests a meeting of Hermitage and Burgundy, but
imbued with all the opulence of Sicilia. However, given that enologists are
seeing a genetic link between indigenous Sicilian grape Nero d'Avola and Syrah,
it's hardly surprising that the latter should grow so well on this rocky, windy
isle. Today, we're delighted to offer both the silky, voluptuous 2008 and the
leaner, herbal and earthy 2007. These gorgeous, surprising wines were
handpicked by Sergio, and they're available only at IWM.