2018 Marco de Bartoli "Vigna La Miccia" Marsala Oro Superiore Riserva 5yr

comes with gift wrap and a write up on Marsala and the Piacentinu Ennese cheese...

Marsala was never a cooking wine, in fact, it was the most revered wine of Sicily. The oxidized wine tradition most likely came from the ancient Pheonicians, who brought their winemaking influence all over the Mediterranean - from Marsala, to Vernaccia di Oristano in Sardegna, to Sherry and Madeira in Spain. The 1980s was a devastating turn for Marsala and is when it became synonymous with cheap cooking wine.

There are few producers to have stayed true to the origins of the wine, making long aged, solera style versions. One being Marco de Bartoli, who's Marsala and Passito di Pantelleria are amongst the most well known and most difficult to find.

Vigna La Miccia is an innovative, contemporary expression of semi-dry marsala wine where the most fruity and delicate notes of the grape have been preserved thanks to cold vinification and avoiding any contact with oxygen during the aging period. made with 100% Grillo grapes.

Marsala Superiore Oro Vigna La Miccia pairs perfectly with all sorts of dishes: pumpkin-filled pasta, soft and blue cheeses, foie gras, prawns as well as with dessert. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled (14-16 °C, that is about 57-61 °F). Try with the Piacentinu Ennese cheese!

add on Piacentinu Ennese, an ancient cheese recipe, made with sheep's milk, saffron and black peppercorn. The recipe is so coveted that it is a DOP (protected origin) and producers can only use milk from native Sicilian breeds of sheep.

Produced in nine municipalities in the province of Enna, it is a pecorino cheese with a compact texture and one of a kind: the saffron gives its characteristic yellow color and an aromatic note, the wrinkles in the rind by molding it in rush baskets.