Skala

Skala is a red wine from Paraschos, a Greek-rooted family estate at San Floriano del Collio in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, near the Italian-Slovenian border. 'Skala' is the Slovene word for the rocky subsoil of the source vineyards, and the wine is a single-variety Merlot from old vines on the Collio hills. The 2001 was released as a 'Vino da Tavola' (estate-bottled at the origin by Azienda Agricola Paraschos), from the estate's early years before it adopted the IGT designation used on later vintages. It is made in the estate's macerated style: spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeasts and long skin maceration in oak vats, then extended aging in large Slavonian oak casks and smaller French oak before an unfiltered, gravity bottling. This 2001 comes from the estate's experimental period (1998 to 2002); Paraschos only moved to bottling its full range with zero added sulfites from 2003 onward. The back label reads 'VINO DA TAVOLA', 2001, 13.5% alcohol, 750 ml.