Nerello Mascalese

Like their Etna Bianco, Etna pioneer Benanti’s Etna Rosso is a blend of multiple vineyards on the volcano’s northern and southern slopes and is built for pure pleasure enjoyment! As Vinous says, it “wafts up... Read More

Organic/Bio Massimiliano Calabretta is as close to a “natural winemaker” as we’ve found on Etna so far, with organic farming and minimal cellar work and loads of respect for his old vines. The family has made... Read More

Organic/Bio Eduardo Torres Acosta learned to make wine with his grandfather in Tenerife before shifting his attention to another volcanic island and coming to Sicily in 2012 to work a harvest with Arianna Occhipinti. He’s... Read More

Federico Graziani comes at Etna wine from the perspective of a taster. At age 15 he took his first wine tasting course and in 1998, at age 23, he was crowned Italy’s top sommelier. He came to Etna in 2008 and now has 6HA... Read More

This is a fabulous bargain in very high-end Etna red. It's mainly Nerello Mascalese with a smattering of the softer Nerello Cappuccio from sites across the north slopes of the volcano. It’s wonderfully layered and complex,... Read More

Organic/Bio Russo’s Calderara Sottana is more red-fruited and open/fleshy than the darker, more intense, San Lorenzo. But there’s still plenty of intensity to the perfume and flavors and grip on the long, minerally,... Read More

Organic/Bio As Wine Advocate said last year, “Giuseppe Russo makes some of the best wines on Etna. Full stop.” And this is Doug’s favorite pretty much every year. From roughly 50 year-old vines at 500 meters,... Read More

Organic/Bio At the very top of San Lorenzo, at 750 meters elevation, almost too high to be “Etna Rosso,” Russo farms a 0.7HA plot of vines planted in the early 1940s. Originally they were trained on traditional albarello... Read More

Organic/Bio Pre-Order Only At the very top of San Lorenzo, at 750 meters elevation, almost too high to be “Etna Rosso,” Russo farms a 0.7HA plot of vines planted in the early 1940s. Originally they were trained on... Read More

Organic/Bio As Wine Advocate said last year, “Giuseppe Russo makes some of the best wines on Etna. Full stop.” This is his more powerful and sleek San Lorenzo bottling, at 330 cases, his biggest single Contrada wine.... Read More

Organic/Bio From 700 meters elevation in Mogannazzi contrada and vines up to 100 year-old vines, this showcases the wilder, more savory, side of Etna. Maybe it’s the fully 20% Nerello Cappuccio joining Nerello Mascalese,... Read More

Organic/Bio Only from Etna do you get this captivating combination of smoky volcanic rock and crunchy-ripe strawberry/sweet cherry fruit with mouthcoating tannins that give shape and elevate the flavors without drying you out... Read More

Organic/Bio At just 1,800 feet elevation, the lowest of Passopisciaro’s Contrada vines grow on the last edges of Mount Etna lava. The vines push through the lava to limestone and develop more rich, round, textures than the... Read More

Organic/Bio Someday I'll go to Le Contrade dell'Etna and taste wines from every important contrade on the volcano. Until then, though, my position is clear and absolute: Guardiola is my favorite and, arguably, the best.... Read More

Organic/Bio Contrada Rampante is Passopisciaro's highest cru and, at 3,300 feet, at the very limit of where Nerello Mascalese can be grown. It's loaded with floral perfume and lifted by vital acidity, but the fruit - sweet/tart,... Read More

Organic/Bio Contrada Rampante is Passopisciaro's highest cru and, at 3,300 feet, at the very limit of where Nerello Mascalese can be grown. It's loaded with floral perfume and lifted by vital acidity, but the fruit - sweet/tart,... Read More

Organic/Bio With just 1HA of vines on the 2,800 foot elevation, lava-covered, Contrada Sciaranuova, Passopisciaro made only 165 cases or so of this in 2021. The name translates to new lava flow which covered the site in the 1600s... Read More

Organic/Bio With just 1HA of vines on the 2,800 foot elevation, lava-covered, Contrada Sciaranuova, this is always one of the more limited wines from Passopisciaro. The name translates to new lava flow which covered the site in... Read More

Organic/Bio Most Etna wineries make an “Etna Rosso” from younger vines or barrels not used in their single-contrada bottlings. Not here. Instead Passarosso is a blend from some of the oldest vines in Passopisciaro's... Read More

Organic/Bio Perhaps the finest vintage ever of this benchmark blend of Nerello from key sites across the north face of Etna. For the first time, Marc de Grazia and team were able to hold this in barrel for around 15 months –... Read More

Organic/Bio A new wine from Terre Nere, this celebrates the first harvest Marc de Grazia took from this Grand Cru vineyard in 2002 by pulling grapes from his first new vine planting there. Planted in 2006 and 2007, these vines... Read More

Organic/Bio Just as in the rest of Europe, when phylloxera came to Sicily in the early 20th Century it devastated most of the region's vineyards. But two small plots of Nerello Mascalese on Mount Etna's steep slopes survived,... Read More

Just as in the rest of Europe, when phylloxera devastated most of the volcano's vineyards when it finally arrived here in the mid-20th Century. But two small plots of Nerello Mascalese on Calderara Sottona's steep slopes... Read More

Marc de Grazia has designed San Lorenzo one of his three Grande Terroir Ellittico wines, so designated because of their very rare and pure volcanic sand soils from the Ellittico eruptions dating from 15,000 to 60,000 years ago.... Read More

A relatively new winery (first vintage 2014) from a family with 100+ years on Etna, the Tornetore style runs less extracted and powerful than most, but still very delicious! From older vines up the volcano from the winery, this... Read More