The 1985 Marsala Superiore Riserva Ambra Semisecco opens to a beautiful amber color with copper highlights and a bright sense of luminosity within. The semisecco style adopted here highlights the marine, brimstone and mineral notes that have been so beautifully preserved in this carefully aged fortified wine. This Marsala Superiore spends a quarter of a century in large oak casks inside the historic cellars of Cantine Pellegrino. Aromas include caramel, honey and candied fruit and the alcohol clocks in at a determined 18%. This is an atypical wine, but one that offers a glimpse into one of Sicily’s most important wine traditions. It’s almost impossible to put a drinking window on a wine that is built to withstand time. Drink 2014-2040.
The Carlo Pellegrino brand includes wines from Cantine Pellegrino 1880 and wines made under the Duca di Castelmonte sub-brand. The winery is one of the oldest and most productive in the sleepy portside town of Masala in the southwest corner of Sicily.
Importer: Frederick Wildman & Sons, www.frederickwildman.com