Wine & Spirits - October 2020 - 75

YEAR'S BEST ETNA WINES
90 | Terre Nere

278115
$24

2019 Etna Rosato ^ Delicate floral scents
introduce this wine; then racy acidity draws
its flavors of juicy peach and soft red berries
together in a graceful, refined finish. § Skurnik
Wines & Spirits, NY

RED

278109

96 | Terre Nere

$48

2017 Etna Rosso Santo Spirito ^ 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. § Skurnik Wines & Spirits, NY
278110

95 | Terre Nere

$60

2017 Etna Rosso Calderara Sottana ^
According to Marco de Grazia, Calderara Sottana is one of only two contrade with soils
fully derived from lava flows and deposits
that came out of the Ellittico eruptive center, dating back some 15,000 to 60,000 years
(the other is San Lorenzo, which produced
a wine also recommended here). Fist-sized
black pumice stones dot his vineyard, and
the vines that produce this wine have survived on the stony soils for 50 to 100 years.
In the warm and dry 2017 vintage, they gave
a wine redolent of red roses and Bing cherries, with hints of tarragon. Rich, ripe tannins
wrap around its juicy fruit while racy acidity
draws the flavors upward, picking up notes of
warm spice on the way to a long, harmonious
finish. § Skurnik Wines & Spirits, NY
278113

94 | Graci

$60

2017 Etna Rosso Arcurìa ^ Notes of wild
thyme and lavender weave through luminous red fruit tones in this graceful Etna
Rosso. Alberto Aiello Graci culls the fruit
from vines that sit at nearly 2,000 feet in elevation on Etna's northeastern slope, and he
ages the wine in large oak botti, preserving
the pure red-berry flavors and the delicate
herbal aromas that linger on its harmonious
finish. § Massanois Imports, NY

94 | Pietradolce

$46

2017 Etna Rosso Contrada Rampante ^
Culled from alberello-trained vines planted
80 to 90 years ago, this high-toned wine
shows flavors of crunchy raspberry, cherry
and pomegranate infused with a hot-sand
minerality. Firm, stony tannins begin to relax
with exposure to air, suggesting the wine
will benefit from an hour of decanting to let
those bright red-berry tones wash through
and some darker, more savory notes emerge. §
Empson USA, Alexandria, VA
278111

94 | Terre Nere

$63

2018 Etna Rosso San Lorenzo ^ Contrada
San Lorenzo's soils, like those of Calderara
Sottana, derive from Etna's Ellittico eruption
center, but San Lorenzo's are deeper and less
rocky. Those deep soils presented problems
in the rain-soaked 2018 growing season, but
strict selection at harvest yielded a darkfruited wine, its plum and black-cherry flavors tinged with notes of orange zest and
girded by warm, tarry undertones. § Skurnik
Wines & Spirits, NY
278112

94 | Terre Nere

$48

2017 Etna Rosso Feudo di Mezzo Il Quadro
delle Rose ^ Nerello mascalese culled from
40- to 80-year-old vines planted in shallow
volcanic ash soils produced this sultry wine.
Notes of chocolate and warm spices mingle
with plum and black cherry flavors, the wine
knit together by silky tannins. Those dusky
fruit tones glow on the long finish, giving the
wine plenty of early appeal. § Skurnik Wines
& Spirits, NY
278123

93 | Pietradolce

$44

2017 Etna Rosso Archineri ^ This is darker
in tone and spicier than Pietradolce's Contrada Rampante bottling (also recommended
here). The fruit comes from a five-acre plot
of pre-phylloxera vines surrounded by
olive trees and cactus plants, and the wine
feels plush, almost exotic, like a very tannic Gevrey-Chambertin, its black-plum flavors showing a natural fruit sweetness that's
underlined by dark, schisty tannins and
accentuated by black spice notes. § Empson
USA, Alexandria, VA
276030

93 | Tasca d'Almerita

$120

2016 Etna Rosso Tenuta Tascante Contrada Sciaranuova V.V. ^ This is one of
four new single-contrada wines from Tasca
d'Almerita's Mount Etna winery, all from
Etna's northern slope. From a section of
Contrada Sciaranuova planted in 1960, it's
impressively deep and concentrated, unfolding with flavors of fresh plum and pomegran-

ate laced together by dark, schisty tannins.
Scents of roses and violets provide a refined,
delicate contrast to the wine's power. (W&S
4/20) § Dalla Terra, Napa, CA
278590

92 | Palmento Costanzo

$70

92 | Planeta

$35

92 | Tasca d'Almerita

$22

92 | Tasca d'Almerita

$60

92 | Terre Nere

$23

92 | Terre Nere

$48

2016 Etna Rosso Contrada Santo Spirito ^
Palmento Costanzo combines the old and
the new in their winery, an ancient stone
palmento that has been renovated with the
latest modern technology, including several
egg-shaped French oak vessels, where this
wine aged for two years. Its pure red berry
and cherry flavors bristle with minerality
and smoky undertones. The fruit comes
from alberello-trained vines on Etna's north
slope, some a century old. § Artisanal Cellars,
White River Junction, VT
278580
2018 Etna Rosso ^ This wine opens with lively
cherry and cranberry flavors brightened by
hints of orange peel. Light, raspy tannins
frame the flavors, and the wine evolves with
air to take on dark tarry notes and hints of
wild herbs that add intrigue. § Taub Family
Selections, Port Washington, NY
276010
2017 Etna Rosso Tenuta Tascante Ghaia
Nera (Best Buy) ^ Floral and juicy, with typical nerello mascalese flavors of dark plum,
cherry, dried thyme and lavender, Ghaia
Nera offers a great entry point to Etna Rosso.
(W&S 4/20) § Dalla Terra, Napa, CA
276028
2016 Etna Rosso Tenuta Tascante Contrada Rampante ^ Produced from vines
planted in 2000, this wraps its dark cherry
and plum flavors in a lithe texture. Aged for
a year in large Slavonian oak casks, the wine
shows beautiful freshness and precision.
(W&S 4/20) § Dalla Terra, Napa, CA
278135
2018 Etna Rosso (Best Buy) ^ Produced from
a mix of young and old vines on Etna's north
slope, this wine unfolds with flavors of wild
strawberry and blood orange accented by
notes of crunchy herbs. High-toned and
transparent, it gains depth with air, developing a dark current of smoke and tar that
offers a superb introduction to Etna Rosso. §
Skurnik Wines & Spirits, NY
278137
2017 Etna Rosso Moganazzi ^ Marco de
Grazia first bought a tiny plot of vines in the
Moganazzi contrade in 2007, dedicating its
production to a charity project. He's since
WINE & SPIRITS

OCTOBER 2020

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Wine & Spirits - October 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - October 2020
