Disclaimer: The wine was provided by the winery. All opinions are my own. For more information regarding my sample policy visit this page.

A few months ago, Italy celebrated its National Holiday known Festa della Repubblica (Republic Day). The Italian Consulate in Munich organized a big party with lots of food and great wine. Unfortunately admission was only granted to a selective group of people . . . and I was not one of them. But the good news is that I was still made it in. Wait what? Yes. One of my profs at University that was invited to the party asked me If I was interested in serving wine at the party. Of course I could not refuse that offer. The evening was lots of fun and it really did not feel like work. I was serving wine for two producers, one of them was iGreco. At the end of the evening, I had a chat with the folks from iGreco and they asked me if I wanted to review one of their wines. And here I am writing my review for the 2010 iGreco – Masino – IGT Calabria.

iGreco

iGreco is a family-owned farm from Calabria, southern Italy, which has been operated by the Greco family for many generations. The farm consists of a few hundred hectares of olive trees. Their olive oil is said to be one of Italy’s very best. iGreco also has a long history of producing wine from autochthonous grapes. All wines from iGreco are produced with grapes from certified organic agriculture.

For some reason their website seems to be down and therefore for the moment I cannot give you more information about the winery. (at least I could not access it when I was writing this post).

Tasting Notes 2010 iGreco – Masino – IGT Calabria

Masino is a red wine that is produced with 100% Nero di Calabria grapes. What wait? Nero di Calabria? I did some research on this grape and it turns out that Nero di Calabria is just another name for Nero d’Avola. The Calabresi however prefer to call it Nero di Calabria because most consumers immediately associate Nero d’Avola with Sicily. Nero di Calabria is also known as Calabrese. The wine’s appellation is IGT Rosso Calabria

Masino aged four month in French oak barrels. 14.5% was the label listed alcohol by volume.

In the glass, the wine had a deep ruby red color – almost black.

The nose had a lovely bouquet of plums, black pepper, red cherries.

Parting Words

A bottle of Masino retails in Munich for around 16€ but I’ve seen stores that also sell it for 20€. I like the Masino and it’s recommended but I would not pay more than 15€ for it. The wine won 3 glasses in the 2013 Gambero Rosso.

Older vintages of the Masino are available in the US but in my opinion this is a wine that is not meant for aging. Drink within the first 2-3 years after its release. 2010 is the current vintage.

Have you tried the Masino? If so how did you like? Let me know in the comment section below.

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