Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine & Spirits
A hot and dry growing season put Marco de Grazia’s vineyard team to the test in 2017, but the results are simply stunning. After a torrid summer, cooling mistral winds arrived in October, drying out the vines and giving such healthy fruit that the estate was able to vinify the wine without the use of any sulfur dioxide for the first time in its history. Some of the vines that produce this wine have been rooted in Santo Spirito’s rich volcanic ash soils for a century, and in 2017 they yielded a wine that smells like a rose garden. Its intense floral and orange-zest scents give way to saturating red-cherry and raspberry flavors wrapped in lush, ripe tannins; with time in the glass, subtle spice notes emerge, the waves of flavor continuing long after the wine is gone.
-
James Suckling
Sour cherries, ripe strawberries, heather, rosemary, cedar, sweet tobacco and red licorice all spring from the glass. The full-bodied palate remains racy throughout, painting a precisely framed, confident portrait of subtle berries with loads of acidity crunch. Drink from 2021.
-
Wine Spectator
A fragrant, medium- to full-bodied red that shows impeccable balance and integration, layering fine-grained tannins and fresh acidity with flavors of ripe strawberry, cured tobacco and star anise, balanced by a bright hint of pomegranate. The sculpted tannins show more presence on the long, minerally finish. Drink now through 2029.
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.