Terre Siciliane Zibibbo Passito IGT Zhabib 2019 – Hibiscus “Sweet Wine” (375ml)

The Passito Zhabib Hibiscus is made of 100% Zibibbo grapes from fro various vineyards facing south-west. The soil is predominantly of a volcanic structure with medium loose texture. The grapes are selected to be dried on trellises in the sun and subsequentially harvested in boxes to me then fermented. The Passito Zhabib Hibiscus is then cold vinified at 15 ° to 18 ° C with the addition of dried grapes to fresh grape must then matured for 4 months in steel and aged for 2 months in the bottle.

The small but well-equipped Hibiscus wine cellar produces wines that are the result of the vocation of the island environment, which strongly express the proximity to the sea, and the character of the territory of volcanic origin, beaten by the sun and the wind.

Sicilian autochthonous varieties are favored, from which three labels of white wines are obtained, one of red and a passito of Zibibbo, Zhabib, a leading product that represents one of the main features of the island together with the lentils of Ustica, Slow Food Presidium of 15 years, the other jewel grown on the farm with certified organic methods.

In the spaces adjacent to the tasting area, together with the Study and Documentation Center “Isola di Ustica”, a museum of rural and maritime culture has been set up. The company has an appendix on the mainland on the hills between Erice and Valderice in the province of Trapani, a few kilometres from the sea where it grows a small olive grove.

The organic farming method according to the European Regulations is certified by the CCPB control body. .The company uses photovoltaic energy thanks to the plant placed on the roof of the farm area.

Already in the seventies Nicola Longo, graduated in agriculture in Turin as a student-worker, began to replace him with the spurred cordon and the guyot. Then in the Nineties, it introduced fermentation at controlled temperature and started the gradual modernization of the Hibiscus Wine cellar. In 2010 the management of the company passed to his daughter Margherita and her partner Vito.

Back on the island after the PhD in agriculture in Palermo and the first job in Rome, they buy a refrigeration plant and this year a lung press, custom built by Puleo di Marsala.

Annual production is around 13,000 bottles. Without being certified, the company applies the methods of organic viticulture