Ciró: A Little-Known Calabrian Treasure, and Things to Serve With It

Italy has an astonishing number of grapes unknown outside their production areas – Gaglioppo, for example. It’s southern, and the major component in Ciró Rosso. Never heard of that either? TheOxford Companion to Wine simply says it’s Calabria’s best red wine and goes onto the next entry, which certainly isn’t much help.

According to local tradition, Gaglioppo was brought by the Ancient Greeks who colonized the Ionian side of Calabria; they planted vineyards and made a wine called Krimisa, which their athletes used to celebrate their victories, including those at the Olympic Games. With time this Krimisa supposedly evolved into Ciró, though there are some doubts on this score. In any case, after the great wave of immigration that followed the unification of Italy, Ciró enjoyed a certain measure of success in immigrant communities throughout the world, though Burton Anderson attributes this success more to the easy-to-remember name than the quality of the wine.

Nor is he probably mistaken; Ciró Rosso is a rather odd wine to begin with, and if it is made to the high yields many farmers prefer it is decidedly lackluster – a rusty brick color, thin, and with tongue-bending tannins. Note the word many, however, which does not mean all: over the past ten years the top Ciró producers have drastically reduced yields and improved cellar techniques. The wines are still odd, but they’re also quite good, and will go very well with rich South Italian foods – much better than would, say, a Chianti or a Merlot.

Taken as a denomination, Ciró includes several different wines.

• Ciró Rosso is made from Gaglioppo (small amounts of Trebbiano and Greco, both white grapes, are permitted), and is in turn divided into three categories: Ciró Rosso Normale is the standard vino d’annata, the wine made during the vintage. Ciró Rosso Superiore is simply stronger – it’s minimum alcohol content must be 13.5%. Though grape selection isn’t required, most producers who make it do operate a selection. Ciró Rosso Riserva must also be at least 13.5% alcohol, and must be aged for at least three years prior to release. Though large wood was traditionally used, some producers are experimenting with barriques as well.
  To be frank, production would be more rational if there were only two varieties of Ciró Rosso, and some producers only make two. The basic Ciró Rosso should be drunk within 2-3 years of its release, whereas the riserva can age for several years, especially in great vintages. It isn’t however, something one would want to lay down.
• Ciró Rosato is a dry rosé; from the same mixture of grapes used for Ciró Rosso: the must is kept on the skins for a few hours to extract color and tannins, and is then racked and fermented.
• Ciró Bianco, a dry white, is made from Greco Bianco, with up to 10% Trebbiano Toscano.

As a final note, many South Italian producers, including most Ciró producers, train their vines using the alberello system: Rather than string the vines along wires as do vintenrs further north, they prune them like little trees about three feet high. The grapes absorb the heat from the ground and ripen very well, while the sun is bright enough to keep the leaves from being light-starved.

While at Vinitaly this year I stopped at the stands of a number of Ciró producers, finding several I liked.

Linardi is one of the most interesting, in part because they’re wine merchants rather than growers – they purchase their grapes from farmers and make the wine. This does involve a certain degree of uncertainty, since the farmers can decide to go into production directly. On the other hand, many farmers are happy to let someone else worry about the commercial end of things, and they are able to purchase from landowners whose primary activities have little to do with agriculture.

They make a number of wines – a basic Ciró line, the L’Elo line, which they make from grapes that grow on a hill by the same name, some crus, and an interesting vino da tavola.

The basic Ciró Bianco 1997 is a pale gold with faint green highlights, and has a clean, delicate vinous bouquet. On the palate it is medium bodied, with nice fruit that gives way to a tart citrus finish. A tasty, honest wine that will go nicely with simple fish dishes.

Ciró Bianco L’Elo 1997 is made from the ripest grapes of a hillside vineyard, and the must spends several hours on the skins. It’s bouquet is much more concentrated, with heather and sage mixed with pleasing floral notes, as well as peach blossoms and bitter almonds. On the palate it is full, rich, and almost chewy, with nice fruit and a long clean finish. By comparison with the basic Ciró it is slightly sweeter; it will go well with crustaceans, rich fish dishes (but perhaps not cream sauces), and Chinese cuisine, including Sichuan.

In 1995 they began vinifying Galioppo in bianco, in other words, using it to make a white wine (this is not new; much Champagne is made from Pinot Noir). The 1997 vintage is a pale gold with faint green highlights, and has a clean bouquet, with floral notes and heather pleasingly blended with a slight bitterness. The palate reflects the bouquet, with an excellent balance between rich fruit, acidity and structure; the finish is persistent and clean. It will be quite nice as an aperitif, and also go very well with risotti, vegetarian dishes, crustacian-based pasta sauces, and white meats. Well worth seeking out.

The basic Ciró Rosato 1997 is an orange salmon color, with a clean, elegant bouquet that has a pleasing mix of strawberry and citrus. On the palate the wine is quite clean, with nice fruit and faint, well rounded tannins. It should be served cool, and will go well with strong fish dishes, for example grilled salmon or swordfish, and rich vegetarian dishes such as peperonata.

The Ciró l’Elo Rosato 1997 is slightly more salmon colored, and has a much richer bouquet, with the fruit complemented by heather and spice (not from wood). On the palate it is quite pleasant, and full without being tannic; it is smooth, well balanced and has an extremely clean finish. It should again be served cool, and will be excellent with hearty vegetarian dishes (including pasta sauces), white meats, grilled fish, and Indian dishes.

The basic 1995 Ciró Rosso is a brown-brick red, with a clean, fruity bouquet with balsamic vinegar notes mixed with heather, nettles and berry fruit. On the palate it is clean, with nice cherry fruit and full; the tannins are pronounced but quite delicate, though they do have a slight burr and a warm woody feel to them that brings to mind the ripasso techniques used to make Valpolicella. Though the bur makes the wine less suited to a tasting, it will certainly help it complement hearty tomato-and-vegetable based pasta sauces, red meats, or grilled foods, for example chicken.

The Ciró Rosso Superiore 1994 is a cru; it’s a brick red and has a rich bouquet with balsamic notes mixed with leather, floral overtones, and fruit. On the palate it is quite full, and warm, with good fruit and well balanced tannins that again have a slight burr to them. The finish is clean, with a mix of balsamic notes and fruit, and persistent. As with the basic wine, it will go nicely with hearty Mediterranean cuisine, red meats, and grilled foods.

Ciró Rosso l’Elo is a cherry brick red, and has an extremely complex cherry fruit bouquet with interesting balsamic notes as well. On the palate it is full, with rich cherry fruit, and richly tannic; the tannins are nicely rounded and have a slight burr to them, but are not astringent. The finish is a rich mix of balsamic notes and cherry fruit. This was probably the best Ciró I tasted, and has excellent aging potential as well. It will go well with roasts, hearty Mediterranean fare, and also aged mild cheeses or softer sharp cheeses.

Valentino Zito, of the Azienda Vinicola Zito, has 15 hectares of vineyards and produces a number of interesting wines. His yields are on the order of 90-100 quintals/hectare in good years and somewhat less in off years; further north this would be considered quite high but in the south the increased sunlight and heat allows the vines to successfully support these sorts of yields. In terms of wood, though he used to have botti (large oak casks) he is now using mostly steel, and a few barriques for his Ciró Rosso Riserva. He’d like to get more botti for the red wines, because he thinks they benefit from a period in large wood.

The Ciró Bianco 1996 is gold, with a faint sparkle. Its bouquet is elegant, with nice floral notes pleasingly mingled with heather and spice – from the grapes – and green pepper flowers. On the palate the wine is medium bodied, with good fruit, and somewhat tart; the finish is clean and has pleasant walnut notes. It will go well with fish, crustaceans, white meats, mild cheeses, and vegetarian dishes.

The Ciró Rosato 1997 is a salmon red, and has a powerful bouquet with green tobacco notes intermingled with prunes and stewed fruit. On the palate it has nice fruit, with warm, well rounded tannins, and an interesting nutty finish. It’s quite pleasing, and, served cool, will go nicely with complex fish dishes (especially rich grilled fish), vegetarian dishes, hearty pasta sauces, and spicy foods too – it should be nice with Thai or Indian.

The Ciró Rosso 1996 is brick red. The bouquet is interesting, with rich, somewhat stewed fruit and balsamic notes mingled with some green tobacco and saddle leather. On the palate, however, the wine was something of a disappointment – in an attempt to decrease tannin extraction they racked it off the skins part-way though the fermentation, and in doing so left too much behind. The resulting wine is thin, with some fruit, and a warm, slightly tart finish with what tannins there are, if anything, more evident than they might have been otherwise.

The Ciró Rosso Superiore 1994 spent about 3 months in barriques, and is a deeper red, though still brick in tone. No early racking here, and the bouquet is quite interesting, with rich, somewhat stewed fruit and balsamic notes nicely balanced by faint vanilla notes from the wood. On the palate the wine is full bodied, with nice fruit and pronounced tannins that are fairly angular. They should smooth some with time, and the wine will go nicely with rich meat dishes, for example stewed or roasted red meats, or game.

The final producer I tried and liked (there are certainly others I didn’t get to) is Caparra & Siciliani, which is considerably larger – it’s owned by two families, who manage 9 wineries, and have 213 hectares under vine. The vineyards range in age from 20 to more than 50 years (the reds), and are mostly trained in the alberello style. Yields range from 50 to 90 quintals per hectare.

The 1997 Caparra & Siciliani Ciró Bianco is gold, and has an elegant bouquet with a pleasing mix of floral notes, tropical fruit and spice – from the grapes, not wood. On the palate it is full, with nice fruit and a clean finish that fades into faint, tart tropical fruit notes. It will go nicely with fish, vegetarian cuisine, and could work well as an aperitif.

The 1997 Caparra & Siciliani Ciró Rosato is a deep orange red; it spends 12-14 hours on the skins, which is longer than some of the other rosati. The bouquet is intensely floral, with spicy notes mixed with strawberry. On the palate it has nice fruit, and is quite round, and full, with delicate tannins. The finish is clean, warm, and delicate. It will go nicely with elaborate pasta dishes, hearty vegetarian fare, white meats, and spicy cuisines such as Indian or Thai. Mr Caparra says, with a shake of the head, “they all want the new vintage,” and he’s right to shake his head: This wine will continue to improve for a year or so, and will be quite drinkable for at least two more.

The 1996 Caparra & Siciliani Ciró Rosso is brick red, with a clean, fairly powerful bouquet with stewed cherries intermixed with balsamic notes and green leather. On the palate it’s rich, warm, and full, with slight stewed fruit notes; the tannins are fairly angular and leave the mouth warm; the finish is clean, with licorice root and cherry notes. It will go nicely with rich red meats, hearty Mediterranian fare, and aged cheeses.

The 1995 Caparra & Siciliani Ciró Rosso Superiore spent several months in large wood, and was then aged in the bottle; in Mid-April it was still closed on the nose, though there were balsamic notes and fruit, mixed with saddle leather. Because 1995 was not as good a year, it is somewhat thinner on the palate than the 96 Normale. The tannins underpinning the wine are similar however, and it has nice fruit, with a pleasing hot wood burr. With more bottle age it should become a pleasant wine, to be enjoyed with Calabrian foods.

The final wine I tasted was a Caparra & Siciliani Ciró Classico Superiore Valvito 1993, which had spent close to a year in barriques. Brick red in color, it has a complex bouquet, with a mixture of balsamic notes, spice, stewed cherries, mild goat’s milk cheese, and wood that sounds odd but is quite pleasant. On the palate it is rich, with stewed and dried fruit underpinned by considerable warmth, and quite round; the tannins are pronounced but well tempered by the wood. This will be an excellent wine for a roast, grilled meats or game.

Finally, what to serve these wines with? In addition to the suggestions given above, the Ciró rosato would go quite nicely with lasagne alla ricotta salata, as would a Ciró Rosso normale. And here are several recipes from Ottavio Cavalcantis’ Il Libro d’Oro della Cucina e dei Vini di Calabria e Basilicata. Like many collections of traditional recipes, it lists ingredients but frequently omits amounts, which means that one has to experiment a bit. Figure quantities to suit your taste, keeping in mind that no single ingredient should be overwhelming.

Capra a Ra Vutana – Stewed Goat, Vutana Style

In the absence of goat, use lamb.

• 2 1/4 pounds tender meat
• 3/4 pound tomatoes, chopped and seeded but not peeled
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• Fresh basil
• Fennel seeds (about a teaspoon to begin with)
• 1 hot pepper or equivalent amount cayenne (or more to taste)
• Vinegar
• Olive oil
• Salt

Chop the meat into pieces and soak it in a mixture of water and vinegar for two hours (you’ll want a few tablespoons of vinegar in water to cover). Then, pat the meat dry and sauté it in a pan with the olive oil (about a quarter cup); once it has browned for about ten minutes add the thinly sliced onion and continue cooking 5 minutes more. Stir in the tomatoes, basil, fennel and red pepper, and reduce the heat to a bare simmer. Dilute the tomato paste in a cup of water and use it to replace the liquid that evaporates during the simmering, which will take about three hours; after about an hour check seasoning and salt to taste.

Variation: For the same amount of meat, substitute in 2 tablespoons minced parsley and 2 minced cloves garlic for the fennel seeds; you can also increase the red pepper if you want.

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Carne di Juorni ‘I Festa – Feast Day Meat

• 2 1/4 pounds veal breast or shoulder, chopped into pieces
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 a lemon
• 1/2 pound pitted green and black olives (the mild kind, cured in brine)
• 1/2 pound tomatoes, blanched, peeled, and chopped
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pint dry white wine
• 1/2 an onion, minced
• Salt & Pepper to taste.

Begin by sautéing the onion in the oil, then add the meat to the pot and cook until browned. Stir in the tomatoes, olives, garlic and wine, and simmer over low heat until done; this will take several hours, by which time the sauce will be considerably reduced. Correct seasoning, squeeze the juice of the lemon over the meat, and serve.

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Capretto a Ru Furnu – Roast Kid

• 2 1/4 pounds kid or lamb, chopped into pieces
• 1 1/2 pounds tomatoes blanched, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped coarsely
• Basil, minced
• Parsley, minced
• 1 hot red pepper, or more to taste, crushed
• Red wine
• Olive oil
• Salt

You can also make this with other kinds of meat; I once had a wonderful roast rabbit done this way.

Using an oven-proof dish, brown the meat in 1/4 cup olive oil, and while it is cooking brown the onion until light gold separately. When the meat has browned, sprinkle it with the wine (a quarter to a half cup should be sufficient), and immediately stir in the browned onions. Stir in the tomatoes basil, parsley, and red pepper, and transfer the pan to a 350 degree oven. Roast until the meat is fork tender, spooning the juices over it to keep it moist.

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Gattu Serivaggiu – Wildcat

Don’t blanch; up until the 1950s most Calabrians who lived in the country ate meat once a week if that, and depended upon sheep and goats for much of their protein (through milk as well as meat). They would have of course attempted to kill any local predators, and having done so would then have eaten their catch. This can also be done with hare, rabbit, game or chicken. If you are using game rinse the meat and soak it for a day to reduce the gamy flavor.

• 1 wildcat (or rabbit), skinned, cleaned, and chopped into pieces
• 1 large onion, sliced
• Several bay leaves
• 1-2 hot red peppers or more to taste
• A couple sprigs of fresh oregano (start with a teaspoon dried, and increase if need be)
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup vinegar
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup olive oil or lard
• Salt

Sauté the sliced onion until golden in the fat. Add the meat and brown it too, then add the remaining herbs and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook, turning occasionally, until the meat is almost done, then stir in the liquids and finish cooking (you may wish to remove the meat when it is nicely fork tender and reduce the sauce somewhat over high heat).

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Liepru all’Antica – Old-Fashioned Hare

• 1 hare (or rabbit), chopped
• 2 Tropea onions (these are very sweet red onions; in their absence use other, non-acrid onions such as Vidalias), sliced
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 springs mint
• Marjoram to taste
• Thyme to taste
• Flour
• Slices of toasted bread
• 1/4 cup olive oil or lard
• A bottle of Ciró Rosso
• Salt

Marinate the hare in the wine with the onions and the herbs for two days, turning the meat occasionally. Pat the meat dry, flour it, and brown it in the fat, using an oven-proof pot. Once the pieces are all browned stir in the marinade, bring to a simmer (you may want to heat the marinade separately while the meat is browning), and transfer the rabbit to a 350 degree oven. Roast until done, spooning the liquid over the meat to keep it moist. When the meat is done remove it to a platter and keep it warm; strain the liquid and cook it down over a burner until it is quite thick. Spread it over the toasted bread, and serve it with the meat.

Note: you could also do this with chicken, though the marinating time would be considerably less – a few hours.

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Finally, a couple of stuffed vegetables:

Milangiane Chjine – Stuffed Egglplant

• 4-6 large eggplants
• Day-old bread, stripped of the crust
• Garlic, minced (to taste)
• Parsley, minced (to taste)
• Grated pecorino (Romano will be fine, you will want enough to flavor the filling but not overpower it)
• Olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Salt

Peel the eggplants, blanch them in salted water, cut them in half, and scoop out the pulp with a spoon. Sliver the pulp and mix it with the bread, garlic, parsley and cheese, and season the mixture to taste. Place the eggplant shells in an ovenproof dish and fill them with the mixture, drizzle them with olive oil, and bake in a moderate oven until done.

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More eggplant dishes.

Pipi Chjini – Stuffed Peppers

• 2 1/4 pounds green bell peppers
• Day-old bread, stripped of crust
• 1 egg
• 6 anchovy filets, boned
• 2 tablespoons salted or pickled capers, rinsed
• Garlic, minced (to taste)
• Oregano
• Grated Pecorino (Romano will be fine, to taste)
• Olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Salt

Prepare the peppers by removing the tops and scraping out the seeds and ribs. Mix the remaining ingredients except the olive oil and the oregano to make the filling, seasoning it to taste with the salt and pepper. Fill the peppers and place them in an oven-proof dish; drizzle them with olive oil, sprinkle them with oregano, and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes, or until done.

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More pepper dishes.

Good Food & Drink,
Kyle Phillips

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The recipes here are from Ottavio Cavalcanti's "Il Libro d'Oro della Cucina e dei Vini di Calabria e Basilicata (Mursia Editore)." Translations, notes photos & text © Kyle Phillips.