Odoardi Savuto

The Wine... I approached it with skepticism, expecting a hot mess. Instead I got an opportunity to add a new flavor to our table. Winemaker Stefano Chiocioli has at his disposal a significant swath of sustainably-farmed un-trellised alberello vines (I realize, wine nerd friends, that untrellised and alberello = redundant). He makes wines that begin to tell us something about the character and potential of Calabria. For botanists, the Savuto contains 45% Gaglioppo, 15% Greco Nero, 15% Nerello Cappuccio, 15% Magliocco Canino, and 10% Sangiovese, presumably thrown in just to add something recognizable. Please serve this wine with spit-roasted goat, and invite us to dinner. Or grill something meaty and flavorful.

The Estate... is the work of Gregorio and Giovanni Batista. Their family have been in the neighborhood for at least five centuries. Their labor is intended to build recognition of the Savuto and Scavina DOCs, areas whose wines have little resonance away from Calabria. The Savuto River and Tyrrhenian sea provide Odoardi’s fruit some brief respite from the brutal southern Italian heat, making the Battistas’ corner of Calabria better-suited to the production of balanced red and white wines.

The Region... Odoardi is interesting to us because they make appealing wines from less well-known grapes. The wines of Calabria are underrepresented on store shelves. Or maybe they are appropriately represented, given the context of Calabrian viticulture. Italy’s poorest region suffers from a perpetual exodus and subsequent dearth of prominent quality wine estates: to outsiders the area is Ciro and little else.