Cirò – the past

Ionian Sea seen from the wine district of Ciro

For the first of three reports, Walter ventures to the far south of Italy. Twice. See also Cirò – the future and Cirò – the tasting notes.

Last April at Vinitaly I was asked to present a flight of Cirò wines going back to 1969. Cirò is a jewel of a wine region positioned where the ball of the foot sits in the Italian boot, in Calabria, in Italy’s deepest south. Overlooking the Ionian Sea, it produces some of Italy’s most interesting red wines structured by firm tannins. Incidentally, these tannins got it into considerable trouble back in 2010...