Winemaker Notes
With a light ruby red color, Sul Vulcano has a bouquet that stands out for its notes of Asian spices (cardamom and star anise), red fruit (strawberry and black cherry) accompanied by pleasant and fresh balsamic hints. On the palate it is pleasantly juicy, with silky tannins and an elegant finish.
Perfect with appetizers and Mediterranean dishes based on eggplant or mushrooms, ideal with roast or stewed meats. It is a versatile wine that can pair with roast fish as well as accompany dishes from different gastronomic traditions, from North American cuisine (such as chicken wings or hamburgers) to Asian cuisine as long as it is not too spicy. It can also go very well with fusion cuisine such as Tex-Mex, with meat and legume-based dishes.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Fruit for this wine comes from sandy volcanic soils at a cool 700 meters above sea level. The Donnafugata 2021 Etna Rosso Sul Vulcano (with an ample 90,000 bottles made) offers a perfumed bouquet with dark currant, iris root, lavender and grilled Mediterranean herb. This is a silky, mid-weight red with polished, silky tannins.
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Vinous
A whiff of sweet spice and dusty rose gives way to crushed cherries and cloves as the 2021 Etna Rosso Sul Vulcano blossoms in the glass. This displays textures of pure silk, sweeping across the palate with ripe red fruits guided by vibrant acidity as inner florals cascade throughout. Fine tannins and primary concentration saturate toward the close as the 2021 finishes long. Licorice traces fade through the close. This is a fantastic offering, especially at the price point.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Etna Rosso Sul Vulcano is a bright medium red color and shows off notes of bright red cherries, toasted spice, floral perfume, potpourri, and crushed stones. Medium-bodied, it boasts a chalky texture, accompanied by mouthwatering saltiness, silky tannins, and a hint of cardamom spice. This versatile red can be paired nicely with grilled vegetables and seafood.
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James Suckling
A soft and open red with plum and spice character as well as floral undertones. Some fresh herbs too. Medium body. Lightly chewy.
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Wine Spectator
Appealing for its ripe core of black cherry and plum fruit, offering pretty accents of violet, anise and dried herbs. This red is light on its feet, with taut tannins trimming the minerally finish. Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio. Drink now. 2,160 cases made, 450 cases imported.
In 1983, the experienced winegrowing couple Giacomo and Gabriella Rallo decided to invest in a new Sicilian project that they called “Donnafugata.” Their vision was to create a contemporary winegrowing operation based around three sites in western Sicily and to produce a range of international and indigenous variety wines to showcase the potential of Sicily.
Today the estate is comprised of an historic family cellar in Marsala that dates back to 1851, a 667-acre estate at Contessa Entellina planted to a diverse range of grapes, and a third cellar on the volcanic island of Pantelleria, where Donnafugata cultivates 168 acres of Zibibbo vineyards. The company employs state-of-the-art, sustainable viticulture techniques at all three estates for wines of the highest quality.
At Donnafugata, stewardship of the environment is taken as seriously as the production of wine. The winery was one of the first wineries in Italy to produce all of its electricity from solar energy, taking advantage of the bountiful Sicilian sunshine, and in 2015 the island of Pantelleria was given UNESCO certification recognizing its unique vine training method.
The name Donnafugata refers to the novel by Tomasi di Lampedusa entitled Il Gattopardo (The Leopard). A name that means “donna in fuga” (woman in flight) and refers to the story of a queen who found refuge in the part of Sicily where the company’s vineyards are located today.
Extending across the variable volcanic soils of the slopes of Mt. Etna at some of the highest vineyard altitudes in all of Europe—up to 3,300 feet—Nerello Mascalese is one of Sicily’s most noble red varieties. It makes a beautifully aromatic, firm, cellar-worthy but pale-hued red often comparable to a fine Burgundy or Barbaresco. Somm Secret—Nerello Mascalese takes its name from the black color of its grapes, nerello, and the Mascali plain between Mt. Etna and the coast where it is believed to have originated.
A large, geographically and climatically diverse island, just off the toe of Italy, Sicily has long been recognized for its fortified Marsala wines. But it is also a wonderful source of diverse, high quality red and white wines. Steadily increasing in popularity over the past few decades, Italy’s fourth largest wine-producing region is finally receiving the accolades it deserves and shining in today's global market.
Though most think of the climate here as simply hot and dry, variations on this sun-drenched island range from cool Mediterranean along the coastlines to more extreme in its inland zones. Of particular note are the various microclimates of Europe's largest volcano, Mount Etna, where vineyards grow on drastically steep hillsides and varying aspects to the Ionian Sea. The more noteworthy red and white Sicilian wines that come from the volcanic soils of Mount Etna include Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio (reds) and Carricante (whites). All share a racy streak of minerality and, at their best, bear resemblance to their respective red and white Burgundies.
Nero d’Avola is the most widely planted red variety, and is great either as single varietal bottling or in blends with other indigenous varieties or even with international ones. For example, Nero d'Avola is blended with the lighter and floral, Frappato grape, to create the elegant, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, one of the more traditional and respected Sicilian wines of the island.
Grillo and Inzolia, the grapes of Marsala, are also used to produce aromatic, crisp dry Sicilian white. Pantelleria, a subtropical island belonging to the province of Sicily, specializes in Moscato di Pantelleria, made from the variety locally known as Zibibbo.