Mt. Etna Red Wine Tasting

 I am not very familiar with Mt. Etna wines or Nerello Mascalese, its major indigenous grape variety. Last night I had an opportunity to taste a few of these wines. I will share some brief notes on the four most significant ones.

Girolamo Russo produces single vineyard wines from a number of sites. The 2021 Girolamo Russo Cru Caldera Sottana has a pale red colour. This is a gentle, not very concentrated, and elegant wine tasting of strawberry and red cherry. The tannins are fine grained, and the finish is medium (92 points). The 2021 Girolamo Russo Fuedo di Mezzo is made from pre-phylloxera over 100 year old vines. The fruit is darker than in the previous wine, with red and black cherry flavours. There is licorice as well. The tannins are a little coarse (91 points).

The 2019 Statella Pettinociarelle has more fruit weight, perhaps a larger share of Nerello Cappuccio. The black cherry flavours are en-capsuled in a tannic structure. The alcohol is noticeable on the relatively short finish (89 points). The 2018 Santa Maria la Nave Calmorossa is more elegant and rounded. There are some green notes in this wine, next to black cherry, and the mouthfeel is a little flat (89 points).

The cynic in me asks the question: why is Nerello Mascalese not grown elsewhere? Maybe my reviews above provide the answer. These relatively light red wines are cleverly marketed as sitting between Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo. But do they live up to these lofty grape varieties? I think not. The structure is simply not there. And when the wines get beefed up they can become unbalanced and alcoholic. Ok, I am basing this assessment on a small sample (but I tasted additional wines).

 

Tenuta di Fessina Etna Rosso 'Erse'

The 2015 Fessina Etna Rosso 'Erse' is grown on volcanic soil on the northern slopes of Mt. Etna. It is a blend of 80% Nerello Mascalese and 20% Nerello Cappuccio. The wine is fermented and aged in stainless steel.

The colour of the wine is an attractive bright ruby. It suggests a very pure wine, which is born out on the vibrant palate. Red cherry and raspberry fruit is augmented by minerality, smoke and salinity leading to an attractive, finely textured mouthfeel. The wine is medium-bodied, with medium acidity and fine, but firm tannins. The finish is medium at best. The flavour profile is the strength of this wine, more so than its structure. I liked this wine a lot.

Score: 92/+++ 

Cos Pithos Bianco

When one discusses the top 5 alternative winemakers, Cos would always feature. To test the quality of  this órange' wine, I put the 2014 Cos Pithos Bianco away for a few years. The wine comes from Sicily, in a bulky, short bottle, and is based on the Grecanico grape. 

This wine offers little fruit flavour. There are hints of candied orange and dried apricot, but the main feature of this wine, which is orange in colour, should be the texture. In my view, it does not offer as much interest as Roussanne/Marsanne blends. However, the structure is holding up well. It is just not a very interesting wine. A good food pairing could be eggplant.

Score: 88/0

Wine Fashion

The wine world (wineries, writers, restaurants and retail) looks as much at fashion as, well - fashion. Everybody wants to find the next big thing. This means that the 'latest thing' is invariably hyped up more than what it can deliver. In some cases, the delivery comes a few years later, for example Pinot Noir from Tasmania. In some cases, the delivery comes from a small percentage of the trumpeted next big thing, for example orange wines. And in some cases, maybe not at all.

This is the preamble to my tasting of the 2011 Passopisciaro Etna Rosso. This wine has been hyped: Sicily, volcanic soil, and a 'new' variety, Nero d'Avola.

Pouring this wine into the bottle makes me wonder. The colour is already a quite developed garnet. Tasting the wine confirms my concerns. It is quite rustic, ok to drink with pizza or in my case tacos. Cherry flavours are there, but not very elegant, and the finish is quite rough. In defense of the winery, this is their entry level wine and probably should be drunk young. However, pricing is not at an entry level, and the single vineyard wines from this winery are seriously expensive. Being fashionable has its price.

As a consumer being interested in fine wine, I do not care about fashion. It is interesting to try different things, but the quality must be there.

Score: 85/--

Sicilian Wine

The wine market is quite an 'efficient' one. Wine which rates highly is usually quite good, it is also expensive. Finding major 'bargains' is difficult, and when it happens, mostly a one-off.

Opportunities can present themselves, however, when wine regions move from quaffing wine production to fine wine production. These opportunities are limited in Australia, as wine writers tend to elevate these regions, before they have really arrived. The area around Orange might be a present example, the Canberra district some years ago.

Interestingly, in good old Europe, the awareness of wine and wineries is not as highly developed as in the CBDs of Melbourne, Sydney or Adelaide - which brings me to my topic, Sicilian wines.

People have been interested in the next big thing from Italy, after the well established regions of Tuscany and Piedmont, and Sicily was elevated as 'hot': warm climate, volcanic soil and indigenous grapes seems an attractive mix. And it is true, wineries are taking steps to improve the quality of their wines to 'fine wines'.

This is where the opportunity arises: some wineries jump straight to flashy marketing and manage to sell their story, some are still conservative and sleepy and produce good wine at very attractive prices. It is of course difficult to identify these from Australia. However, having just been to Sicily, I found it interesting enough to report on this - and I have quite a few European readers.

Planeta is the flashy company. It exports to the US and has good Wine Spectator ratings. It produces international wine. The 2007 Planeta Syrah is an ok wine, but the fruit is not very concentrated, the mouthfeel a bit thin, and the finish not very long (86 points).

The opposite is Gambini. It produces wine from indigenous grapes. The Etna wines are called Tifeo. The white is made from Carregante and Catarratto and has clean citrus flavours, minerality and a good mouthfeel. This dry white is a great lunch drink at 12% alcohol. The red is made predominantly from Nerello Mascalese (Sicily's most interesting grape) and Nerello Cappuccio. This wine is perfumed, smoky, and with good length - an interesting and unusual wine. The Sicily wines are called Cantari and come from bought- in grapes. The white is actually made from the juice of the red grape Nerello Mascalese and is tropical and elegant, the red is from the Nero d'Avola grape and tastes a bit like Shiraz: peppery, licorice and cherry. All wines cost 8 or 9 Euro and I would rate them about 90 points. The drawback: no exports to Australia yet. They ship to other parts of Europe and the US, though.