Vecchio Samperi Quarantennale Perpetuo

A wine that holds two states at once: bright freshness and velvety complexity. Off-dry, 17.5% ABV, achieved through natural concentration, with no added alcohol or sweetening agents.

Samperi near Marsala in western Sicily, the estate's birthplace. Here the Phoenician Grillo grape thrives on limestone-rich soils. Marco de Bartoli, a racing driver for ten years, returned to the family estate in the 1970s, sought out old solera barrels, reconstructed the historic cellar, and bottled the first barriques in 1978. Today the family farms 30 hectares organically, with 3,500 vines per hectare trained as alberello or guyot, harvested exclusively by hand. Renato oversees the vineyards and cellar in Samperi, Sebastiano the volcanic island of Pantelleria, and Giuseppina the administration.

Single-varietal Grillo, fermented with native yeasts. The Perpetuum method works like a sourdough starter: young wine is continuously added to the older vintages, and the vessel is never fully emptied. The Quarantennale represents forty years of this chain.

Taut acidity carries a concentrated, velvety core. Walnut and hazelnut, dried apricot, orange zest, a saline touch and fine bitter almond. The finish remains long, warming and mineral, with candied citrus peel lingering on the aftertaste.

With aged pecorino, blue cheese and toasted almonds, as well as with duck liver pâté or dried dates. From Sicilian cuisine, fusilli con le sarde pairs beautifully. It also stands complete entirely on its own in the glass.

Between 1995 and 2000, the winery remained closed: the authorities did not consider a wine with 18 percent alcohol classifiable. The house motto, freely adapted from Gaudí: originality is achieved by returning to one's roots.