Winemaker Notes
This clear red wine, with hints of purple, reveals a bouquet of dried cherries, sweet herbs, and dried flowers. On the palate, it is clean and elegant, showcasing wild cherries, earthy undertones, and herbal nuances. It pairs beautifully with roast pork, grilled meats, baked stuffed sardines, tuna with tomato, barbecue short ribs, swordfish with tomatoes and capers, steak, sweet and sour pork, smoked or Thai-style eggplant, and a variety of cheeses including pecorino, caciocavallo, provolone, and fresh ricotta.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Very refined texture and character with sliced berries, cherries, watermelon and oranges on a medium-bodied palate with integrated tannins. The fresh, crunchy finish shows hints of pumice and ash.
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Vinous
Wickedly fresh and floral, the 2023 Etna Rosso is bursting with violet and lavender tones, chalk dust and ripe wild strawberry fruit. It washes across the palate with juicy textures and crisp red berries as a stream of motivating acidity maintains marvelous energy. It leaves a subtle inner tension that pinches at the cheeks as tart cherry and hints of clove linger on. This sexy Etna Rosso will win a lot of hearts.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Graci 2023 Etna Rosso shows a delicate succession of small berry fruits and blue flower. You also get a hint of black tea and dried mountain herb from a warm vintage. There is firmness and tension in this wine; however, the simplicity and approachability of this easy-drinking Etna red (from a difficult vintage) is what stands out most.
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.