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.

Mount Etna is the perfect example of how nature can truly affect a wine and render it breath-taking. Alberto Graci has created his Etna Rosso using traditional methods that ensure high quality, but enviable yields. The indigenous varieties sing through, with Nerello Mascalese offering bright, vivacious red fruits, with an almost endless depth, tempered by a measure of Nerello Cappuccio that offers roundness, and a slight, endearing candied note, finishing with a creamy kiss of oak. This is a must for Burgundy lovers looking for something fun and vibrant, or, indeed, Italian wine lovers looking for the perfect wine to serve alongside a good roast or barbecue.
Tariq Khan - Wine Advisor

Grown at 600 metres above sea-level on rocky lava soils, there is a delicacy to the form of this wine that belies its concentration. Perfumed cherry fruit and citrus peel layer with coal and refreshing acidity. It’s very persistent. Drink 2018-2021.

This single-vineyard wine, from a site just below Graci's cantina, sees Nerello Mascalese blended with a small proportion of the darker, more brooding, Nerello Cappuccio. Structurally, this wine is bolder than their entry-level Rosso or intensely decadent Barbabecchi, but it seduces with ripe, smoky berry fruit and complex finish. Drink now to 2020.

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

Alberto’s village blend of 100% Nerello Mascalese, from across his 15 hectares planted in the villages of Randazzo, Solichetta, Passopisciaro and Castiglione, encapsulates the natural balance and harmony that this noble grape is able to achieve here on Etna. Fermented in cement followed by affinamento (elevage) in Stockinger tini, this pale garnet-red wine, of medium-full body, sings of strawberry patch purity, of volcanic minerals, of beguiling soft summer fruit and warm Sicilian breezes.
David Berry Green

Local boy made only one 42hl slavonian barrel (approx 400 cases) of this wine; the small quantity due to his owning only 2ha of 50 yo, naturally low yielding (age and high density alberello trellised) vines, grown at 1000 metres above sea level; itself an inhibitor. 100% Nerello Mascalese and Cappucio, Quota 600 displays a much tighter, more focused and finer nose than the easier drinking younger sibling, along with an extra marcia/gear of lusciousness. Very much on the Barolo strada, the wine is both generous, elegant as well charming with its fragrant Mediterranean orange grove flavours, wrapped up in a warm sun. A must have for any Nebbiolo or Pinot Noir amante/lover. Drinking now till 2015, along with duck or goose. Bravo Alberto!
David Berry Green, Fine Wine Buyer