| Type | Red |
|---|---|
| Appellation | Mamertino DOC |
| Grapes | Nero d'Avola + Nocera |
| Serving temp. | 16-18°C |
| Style | Complex, enveloping, structured red |
| Food pairing | Red meats; game; aged cheeses; rich pasta preparations |
There is no wine in the UniqueWines portfolio with a more extraordinary historical claim than Giulio Cesare. The Mamertine wine of Messina — produced from the same ancient volcanic hills, from the same ancestral varieties, in the same unbroken winemaking tradition — was offered by Julius Caesar at the banquet celebrating his third consulate. It was ranked fourth among the 195 finest wines of first-century Italy by Pliny the Elder. It was praised by Martial with the instruction to give it whatever name one chose, for it deserved the most famous of all.
Cambria Winery's Giulio Cesare is the contemporary bearer of this extraordinary lineage — the Mamertino DOC produced from the encounter of two authoritative Sicilian grape varieties, Nero d'Avola and the ancient Nocera, born from the sunny lands of Furnari in the beating heart of the Mamertine production area. It is, in the estate's own description, the wine that best expresses the insular and challenging character of the Strait of Messina — a geological and geographical situation as specific and unduplicatable as any in the wine world, positioned between two active volcanic systems on one of the Mediterranean's most storied stretches of water.
The Nocera grape — the ancient variety attested in Greek sources that gave birth to the original Mamertine wine — brings to the blend a quality that is difficult to find in any other Italian variety: a robustness and mineral depth rooted in centuries of cultivation on the extremely mineral lands of the Messina hills, producing a character that is at once lovable and demanding, as the ancient descriptions of Mamertine wine consistently suggest.
In the glass, Giulio Cesare presents with a depth of colour appropriate to its historical weight. The nose is broad, complex, and fine — opening with fruity notes of blueberries and blackberries, progressing through undergrowth, and finishing with a light smoky note that speaks directly of the volcanic soil beneath the Furnari vineyards. The structure is important and the texture is enveloping: a wine that is both mellow and round in the mouth, with a softness and silkiness unusual for a red of this depth, and a persistence that extends long after the last sip.
Giulio Cesare is available through UniqueWines. To drink it is to participate in a winemaking tradition that Julius Caesar himself considered worthy of celebration.
