Sybille Kuntz (Mosel)
Marco Cirillo AKA The Guru of Grenache
Situated in the old “Seigersdorf” area, the Cirillo Vineyard is one of the oldest Grenache vineyards left in the world. The gnarly basket pruned bush vines were planted in 1850 and stand up to 6 feet high and nearly 6 feet wide. The Cirillo family have been the custodians of this great legacy for the past 35 years.
Even with 8 generations of grape growing and wine making, it was not until 2003 when the first Cirillo 1850 Grenache was produced solely from these great vines for sale to the public.
The vineyard sits on what would have been an old inland lake over 100 Million years ago. The soil is deep silt sand over limestone and clay and as you stroll through the vineyard (located 70km inland) the beach-like sand gives way under foot. For these vines to survive at this age they need constant attention through-out the year.
Marco Cirillo (Owner/Winemaker) spends every spare moment training/pruning and nurturing each vine thru its fragile life. The result is fruit with incredible intensity and the old vine richness not often seen in Grenache wines.
The terroir of this uniquely individual vineyard produces incredibly low yields, characters of menthol, cinnamon, white pepper, apricot and high glycerol.
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