| Producer | Passopisciaro |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Sicily |
| Subregion | Mount Etna |
| Varietal | Red Blend |
| Vintage | 2021 |
| Sku | 03950 |
| Size | 750ml |
I never met Andrea Franchetti, who died in December 2021 at the age of 72. But this wine sums up everything I’ve read and heard from his partners at Passopisciaro. “Poetic” and “wildly visionary” are the phrases that apply to the man and this wine. Because how else can you describe someone who arrived on Mount Etna in the late 1990s, saw the barren, moonscape, soils and terraces of neglected Nerello Mascalese vines and thought, “This is a great place to create wine. I think I’ll plant Petit Verdot and Cesanese d’Affile.”
With any apologies necessary for the language, this is brilliantly sexy wine. It glides, shimmies, and sways, struts with confidence, and highlights Petit Verdot’s come hither perfume and decadent chocolate notes with a dollop of down-home blueberry jam. Irresistible now in its youth, let it mature for another few years and get ready for a torrid affair through 2035 and beyond.
"Franchetti is something completely different on Etna. First released in the 2005 vintage, Andrea Franchetti (master of doing things his own way) aimed to express the terroir of Contrada Guardiola (at 820m) in a full-bodied wine. Vinified in steel vats, the blend of Petit Verdot and Cesanese d'Affile – a nearly extinct variety he rescued from Lazio – is then matured in French oak barrels for six months followed by a further 12 months in cement vats. Stunning aromatics – perfumed, super-floral scents of violets, lavender, summer meadow flowers and macerated red fruits, with some curranty notes in the background. Concentrated and tannic, with a silky mouthfeel amongst the grainy tannins, and red-fruited acidity, this is a sculpted wine which shows the sapidity developed from these soils. Flavours reminiscent of blueberry jam are backed by liquorice, sweet milk chocolate and dried herbs. 4,000 bottles produced."
"In 2021, the Franchetti is a gorgeous blending of 70% Petit Verdot and 30% Cesanese d’Affile, opening with a seductive cascade of violets, lavender, sage, chalk dust and sweet smoke. This is elegant and deeply textural, like weighted velvet and creamy in feel, energized by vibrant acidity that creates a sensation of contrasts that must be experienced to be believed. Ripe wild berries, blackberries and licorice envelope the palate. A web of sweet tannins gently settles on the palate as the 2021 leaves a resonance of black tea leaves and spice, tapering off dry and hauntingly dark."
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