Winemaker Notes
Straw yellow with light golden highlights. A fine and elegant bouquet where the typical citrus and floral notes stand out, with light spicy hints. Fresh and savory in which the acid component balances the alcohol component and makes the wine persistent, long and extremely mineral.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A white Etna that’s full of detail and fruit concentration with sleek minerality. Candied cedar and smoke, together with bright yellow peach pulp soaked in lemon zest. Full body with weight and firm, long acidity. The texture is silky and not flabby, with a lively finish full of chewy citrus and peachy details. Super length and persistency. This is a reference point for Etna. Ready to drink now, but will age consistently for 5 to 10 years.
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Wine Enthusiast
The nose is full of damp earth and pepper, with subtle floral aromas of cherry blossom and then savory notes of bitter orange peel and oregano. The palate has the bright sweetness of cherries and raspberries, but also more peppery earthiness for balance. Acid explodes around tannins that are polished without losing that trademark Sicilian grit.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
With just a few vintages under his belt, Giuseppe Russo has created a beautiful top-shelf white from Etna. His Girolamo Russo 2022 Etna Bianco San Lorenzo is 90% Carricante and 10% Grecanico that starts off in steel and is then racked over to oak, where it stays for a few months. No malolactic fermentation occurs. I tasted this sample about one month after it had been bottled, and at this young stage, the bouquet is very focused on citrus and salty mineral. But look beyond those two aromatic pillars and the wine begins to reveal subtle layers of green apple (that could come from the Grecanico), quince, pear and saffron. It shows shy but compelling complexity.
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Vinous
The 2022 Etna Bianco San Lorenzo seduces as honeyed florals and almond custard give way to crushed white peaches and an enriching air of hazelnut. It's soothingly round and pliant, with a saline tinge up front that perfectly offsets the ripe orchard fruits within. A stream of zesty acidity enlivens the experience as this tapers off long and remarkably fresh, leaving a salty nuance that calls the taster back to the glass. The 2022 hails from vines at 800 meters in elevation that were harvested about one week earlier than average due to the conditions of the year. The balance here is otherworldly.
Carricante has grown on the slopes of Sicily’s Mt. Etna for the last thousand years. It is the dominant grape in Etna Bianco DOC blends, with Catarratto as a possible minor blending partner. The best examples come from volcanic soils at higher altitudes where a large diurnal temperature shift allows slow and steady ripening and the development of Carricante’s naturally high acidity. Somm Secret—A vine variety capable of high yields if not tended to properly, Carricante gets its name from, carica, the Italian word for “load.”
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.