'A Vita

Winemaker. And that's it. This is Francesco De Franco. Celebrated also by the New York Times, but with his hands firmly planted in the earth. An emigrant, he returned to Calabria to devote himself to wine with long macerations and very low yields, as in the past. He was one of the very first to understand that Cirò, a great Calabrian red wine made from Gaglioppo grapes, should be made without excessive structure and opulence. 

Clays and marls lashed by the iodine of the Ionian Sea are inhabited by ancient rows of vines grown organically. Only 15,000 bottles a year and about 8 hectares of this marvel. Young and lively, the Cirò Classico offers notes of marasca cherry, cassis, cloves, sapidity and freshness galore. A great little wine faithful to its terroir, subtle yet extraordinarily characterful.