Winemaker Notes
#23 Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Cellar Selections of 2019
Contrada Guardiola (Contrada G) is an ancient domain between 800 and 1,000 m (2,600 to 3,300 ft) above sea level, on the edge of the lava flow from Etna’s 1947 eruption. It produces a deep and complex wine with a rich taste of red fruit. We make this wine from a careful selection of some of our older nerello mascalese vines, which we started bottling separately beginning in 2011.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Enticingly fragrant, this stunning red opens with delicate but alluring scents of wild berry, Mediterranean brush, rose, crushed rock and a whiff of exotic spice. It's full bodied but loaded with finesse, delivering creamy red cherry, raspberry compote, star anise and white pepper. Taut, refined tannins and lively acidity provide support and balance, while a savory mineral note lingers on the close.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A pure expression of Nerello Mascalese from the Guardiola vineyard, the 2016 Contrada G is slightly tamer in appearance but more poignant and sharp in terms of aromas. The quality of those berry aromas is very clean and bright. You can easily distinguish cassis, dried cranberry and wild blackberry. Delicate tones of spice, cigar ash, scorched earth and crushed stone appear at the back. This wine is streamlined and elegant. Like the other wines in this series, it ages in large oak casks for 18 months. Some 3,700 bottles were released.
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Wine Spectator
An understated elegance details this vibrant, medium- to full-bodied red, with ripe raspberry and sun-dried cherry fruit, married to fine tannins and accents of dried thyme, fig cake, citrus and tobacco. A subtle streak of smoky mineral echoes on the finish. Nerello Mascalese.
Beyond the usual suspects, there are hundreds of red grape varieties grown throughout the world. Some are indigenous specialties capable of producing excellent single varietal wines, while others are better suited for use as blending grapes. Each has its own distinct viticultural characteristics, as well as aroma and flavor profiles, offering much to be discovered by the curious wine lover. In particular, Portugal and Italy are known for having a multitude of unique varieties but they can really be found in any region.
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.