Winemaker Notes
An amalgamation of Nerello Mascalese grapes grown at various heights on Etna's northern flank. The higher elevations are typically located on gravelly soils with a coarser grain size, while the lower elevations are typically situated on finer and deeper soils composed of ancient lava flows that have now been oxidized and reduced to lava dust. This wine captures the essence of multiple distinct regions within a single bottle, providing an all-encompassing sense of place. It has a velvety texture with a refreshingly cool undercurrent of acidity and sweetness, making for an alluringly lively and fruit-forward flavor.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Bright and shining ruby, showing aromas of wild strawberries, almond paste and smoky minerality. It is firm on the palate, with the dusty texture of nerello mascalese grapes, but also with quite a full body. Sternness on the finish is balanced by crisp acidity.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Passopisciaro 2022 Etna Rosso Passorosso opens to dried cherry, redcurrant and crushed rose that give this wine a brittle, almost fragile personality. Fruit comes from 80- to 110-year-old vines planted at a high 500 to 800 meters above sea level as alberello, or head-pruned, vines, at a high density of 8,000 plants per hectare. Winemaking includes 18 months of aging in botte grande and cement. You taste extra ripeness in this hot-vintage wine, but you also get the structural firmness we see in the other excellent wines in this portfolio.
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Vinous
The 2022 Passorosso is spicy in the glass with an herbal thrust up front, giving way to gingertinged dried cherries and dusty sage. This is silky-smooth with ripe red and hints of blue fruit. Brisk acidity motivates the mouthfeel as the 2022 takes on a salty savoriness toward the close. It finishes with outstanding length and concentration, leaving a coating of fine tannins and a resonance of licorice on the close.
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.