Madonna delle Grazie Liscone 2018

Cantine Madonna della Grazie is a small organic / biodynamic winery in Venosa, in the heart of Vulture. Liscone comes off 5.5 hectares of 30+ year old vines at 430m on volcanic clays. The plants are a massale selection with larger berries due to the stronger water retentive ability of the soils located next to a creek. The native ferment lasts around three weeks in stainless, where it remains for 18 months. It is then racked into old neutral 500L French barrels for a year, then back into stainless for a six-month stint. Finally, it is lightly filtered before bottling. In 2018 the top wines of the estate were not made, so the fruit went into Liscone. Wild plum, perfumed dark cherry, thorns are woven throughout the dusky, substantial palate, lit with a buzzy acidity, and housed with sticky tannins. Still much time ahead here. Score – 91. (Treve Ring, gismondionwine.com, June 2, 2023)