Nerello

The Barbabecchi vineyard is a two-hectare plot of 100-year-old Nerello Mascalese grown at its limit, at 1,000 metres above sea-level. Elegance and richness are balanced with layers of fruit (kirsch, blood orange and cherry pit) and more savoury notes (smoky minerality and tobacco spice). The tannins are refined and seamlessly bound with the fruit on the mid-palate. Delicious in its youth, this is definitely capable of ageing with grace. Drink now to 2025.

Impeccably turned out, Alberto's wines reflect their creator. Petal-fresh, with a wave of molten strawberry and minty fruit, suave, so fleshy and yet at the same time delightfully mineral; at its core lie small, sweet, smoky cassis berries. As with the 2013s of the Langhe, Graci’s Etna wines have a sophistication and class which will only develop further. This is a perfect example of why the Nerello Mascalese grapes from Etna’s lava slopes produce Siciliy’s most exciting and refined red wines.

Since 2005, Sicilian Alberto Aiello Graci — aided by his sister Elena and mother Maria Adelaide — has been making refined and true Etna Rosso and Etna Bianco wines from 19 hectares of fruit grown on the still-trembling Mount Etna. More precisely, his black Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, and white Catarratto and Carricante grapes are grown on two prime sites: Contrada Barbabecchi in the village of Solicchiata and Contrada Arcuria in Passopisciaro. The wines are traditionally made without temperature control, employing large oak and, where possible, wild yeast to bring out the full expression of the land.

Probably as a result of the thin air at 1000 metres above sea level, & aggravated by a tricky harvest, nature yielded a tiny crop so our allocation is a mere 36 bottles. The vines are planted on piede franco, low yielding ungrafted rootstock (as opposed to more vigorous American ones that most of Europe is planted on) and the vines are older than those used for Quota 600. Blended with 5% Nerello Cappuccio, the net result is a high tension, delicate, modest alcohol wine with great finezza and bevibilita (drinkability).
(David Berry Green)

Formerly known as Etna Rosso Quota 600, Alberto has decided in 2012 to pinpoint the wine’s provenance on the label, hence the words ‘Contrada da Arcuria’. It still heralds from that lofty spot among the rocky lava flows, whose black, sooty soils contrast dramatically with the profusion of wild fennel that coats the volcano. These extraordinary soils, rich in magma minerals, appear to give a smoky edge to the loganberry, fleshy fruit, while remaining very precise and salty – a natural trait of the Nerello Mascalese grape.
David Berry Green