Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A bright, fruity wine with pristine red cherries, a whiff of flowers and smoky aromas. Medium-bodied, it has a crunchy palate with crisp acidity and chalky tannins, a bit drier in the finish.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A bright red hue, the 2022 Etna Rosso is fresh and pure with red cherries, cranberries, fresh orange zest, and fresh herbs and flowers. Including a 5% splash of Nerello Cappuccio in the wine, it was aged in barrel and stainless steel (roughly 50% each) and is medium-bodied, with refreshing acidity, fine tannins, delicate saltiness, and an elegant and pure frame.
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Vinous
The 2022 Etna Rosso opens with a blend of wild strawberry and lavender tones offset by hints of wet stone. It's soft and round with ripe red and blue fruits, but it takes on a steely minerality toward the close. The 2022 finishes just slightly tannic.
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.