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2019 Torre-Kalena Rosso
Steiger-KalenaAfter years of living abroad, Giulio Steiger and his wife, Margarita, settled in Casacalenda, a mountain commune in the Molise region, determined to create high-quality wines in Giulio’s native land. From 2015 to 2018, they planted twelve hectares of the region’s typical grape varieties—Montepulciano, Aglianico, and the native Tintilia—on west-facing slopes of limestone, clay, and sand. With a climate influenced by both the Apennines and the Adriatic Sea, along with the moderating effect of nearby Lake Guardialfiera, this picturesque area has all the makings of a great wine terroir. Recognizing this potential, Giulio and Margarita built their azienda from the ground up, meticulously planning each step and refusing to take any shortcuts
Their Torre-Kalena is a red starring mainly Montepulciano aged patiently in large casks. Deep, bold, and concentrated, it nonetheless emanates an austere elegance, providing stately black fruit and bitter cocoa suggestions over dense, yet perfectly integrated tannins. This powerful southern red from Italy’s least-known region will warm your bones alongside your heartiest winter dishes.
Wine Type: | red |
Vintage: | 2019 |
Bottle Size: | 750mL |
Blend: | 90% Montepulciano, 7% Aglianico, 3% Tintilia |
Country: | Italy |
Region: | Molise |
Producer: | Steiger-Kalena |
Winemaker: | Giulio Steiger |
Vineyard: | Planted in 2016; 12 ha total |
Soil: | Clay |
Aging: | Ages for 24 months in 50 hL wood casks and about 12 months in bottle |
Farming: | Organic (certified) |
Alcohol: | 13.5% |
More from this Producer or Region
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About The Producer
Steiger-Kalena
After years living abroad, Giulio Steiger and his wife Margarita settled in Casacalenda, a commune situated roughly halfway between the capital city of Campobasso and the Adriatic coast, determined to create high-quality wines in Giulio’s native land. From 2015 to 2018, they planted twelve hectares of the region’s typical grape varieties—Montepulciano, Aglianico, and the native Tintilia—on west-facing slopes of limestone, clay, and sand. With a climate influenced by both the Apennines and the sea, along with the moderating effect of the nearby Lake Guardialfiera, this picturesque area has all the makings of a great wine terroir.
Giulio eschews chemical treatments in his vines, leaving a natural cover crop and enriching the soils with his own grape pomace and manure from their farm animals. Fermentations occur spontaneously without temperature control, and the wines are aged in concrete and neutral wood, where they rest until the unfiltered bottling. Soulful delights with novel flavors and textures from a previously unheralded land, the first releases from this ambitious young couple make a very strong case for Italy’s second-smallest region. We are thrilled to welcome Steiger-Kalena as the first-ever grower from Molise in the KLWM family.
About The Region
Molise
Italy’s second-smallest region by surface area and population, Molise is a mountainous enclave tucked along the Adriatic Sea between Abruzzo to the north and Puglia to the south. Its western side, bordering Campania, consists of Apennine peaks that gradually descend toward the coastline. With a range of climate zones from Mediterranean along the Adriatic to continental in the higher inland areas, with temperate foothills in between, there is great potential for fine wine production in Molise.
While winemaking here predates the Roman Empire, the region’s isolation and mountainous nature has prevented it from achieving the productivity or commercial success of some of its neighbors. The first commercial bottlings date back to the 1970s near the coast, and in the 1990s more independent producers began popping up, but without really focusing on quality. Molise still has a high proportion of home winemakers who vinify for familial consumption relative to other regions, although in recent years some newer producers have made a concerted effort to create serious wine on a commercial scale. Steiger-Kalena, the first and only Molise producer to grace KLWM shelves, is an exciting example of this shift toward quality, and a delightful demonstration of what is capable in this secluded region.
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Kermit once said...
Kermit once said...
I want you to realize once and for all: Even the winemaker does not know what aging is going to do to a new vintage; Robert Parker does not know; I do not know. We all make educated (hopefully) guesses about what the future will bring, but guesses they are. And one of the pleasures of a wine cellar is the opportunity it provides for you to witness the evolution of your various selections. Living wines have ups and downs just as people do, periods of glory and dog days, too. If wine did not remind me of real life, I would not care about it so much.
Inspiring Thirst, page 171