SITO DELL’ULMO SINGLE VINEYARD MERLOT, SICILIA MENFI DOC
Planeta
APPELLATION
Sicilia Menfi DOC
GRAPE VARIETIES
100% Merlot
WINEMAKERS
Patricia Toth
TECHNICAL DATA
Acidity
3.36 g/L
Alcohol
14.5%
90POINTS
92POINTS
Planeta encompasses six distinct wine estates across Sicily, each one inspired and constructed in harmony with its surroundings and dedicated to its terroir. Planeta’s journey begins at Sambuca di Sicilia, on the estate owned by the family since the 1600s. Here on Italy's most enchanting island, three enthusiastic young Sicilians, Alessio, Francesca and Santi Planeta, under the guidance of Diego Planeta, began their winemaking venture in the mid-1980s. Subsequent years were spent matching the extraordinarily diverse Sicilian soils with both indigenous and international varieties. Years of careful research paid off when the Planeta wines were met with immediate critical acclaim upon introduction in the U.S. in the late 1990s.
All of the company’s activities have a single theme; environmental sustainability. Planeta engages in the use of solar panels and biomass production, principally pruning residues to produce energy, reusing and recycling of all materials used in the production cycle, and the exclusive use of recycled paper for packing and printed materials. Because the land is a collective benefit, Planeta considers it is a duty to make every effort in preserving it. Harvest occured on September 10th.
TERROIR & VINTAGE NOTESSito dell’Ulmo is a single-variety Merlot and from a ‘Single Vineyard’. Years of experience have helped us identify in the vineyards of Ulmo, planted in 1987 on the banks of Lake Arancio, the ideal place for the cultivation of this ancient French variety.
The soils are of average texture, moderately deep to deep with abundant pebbles, slightly limey and with some areas of dark organic material.
The harvest took place on the 10th of September. Destalking followed by 14 days on the skins; fermentation at 28°C; after racking malolactic fermentation in stainless steel.
AGEINGThe wine was aged in Allier oak barrels (50% new) for 14 months.
TASTING NOTESA bewitching wine... Its uniqueness emerges in a particular way with a diverse but lively structure of tannins and with its strong and intensely savoury taste. This version of a densely ruby coloured Merlot, so rich with the sweet juice of black currant and candied violet which alternates with thyme and lavender, cannot pass unnoticed either by the palate of a refined taste or by that of an enthusiastic novice. It is a multi-faceted and intriguing red wine which combines the pleasure of tannin with an extraordinary persistence of taste.
Although it can so easily be drunk on its own, its elegance renders it appropriate with white meat even when cooked with a sauce of considerable flavor, or else with some delicate fish cooked without lemon or even with baked vegetables.
RESOURCES
Planeta Portfolio
