I can’t find very much with google search on recent vintages. Or a vintage chart. I’m interested in 2011, 12 and 13.
Vintage chart for Etna Rosso?
Now that’s some wishful thinking if I’ve ever seen it.
Though I’ve got to say, it would be cool. I have no idea who could possibly be a reliable guide to the vintages, though.
Such a tease: I thought there was going to be a nice full-color chart listing wines to drink or hold.
I’ve been drinking Etna wines since the 2002 vintage and have yet to figure out a system for their vintage characteristics, partly because so many wineries keep entering the scene every year so the wines don’t really have a track record yet and are more of a learning curve. If you can trace wines and their evolution like Calabretta (who are only now releasing their early 2000’s, I think they are up to 2002 or 03), Palari (who are in nearby Faro, on the coast and a bit north but at lower altitude, but a suitable proxy for aging these wines since similar grapes are used), also Benanti’s been there awhile and has good track record (love to see how carricante’s are aging from the 90’s!). Oh, also don’t forget you need charts for both reds AND whites; a lot of folks forget about the whites.
I can give you my impressions on the vintages. It is mostly based on 2 or 3 producers. I know it wasn’t one of the vintages you listed but I really like everything I tasted from Passopisciaro in 2010. My focus has been mostly on Passopisciaro and Terre Nere. The base wines are drinking very well, but they might benefit from short term aging or not. The upper level wines will benefit from short-mid term aging. And an hour or two of air really helps.
Passopisciaro - Really loved the 2010s. By comparison the 2011s that I have had, 6 or so bottles of the base wine and 2-3 of the Contrada wines, they are good-very good and are very nervous and tense. Might be the vintage, might be the extra year in aging, but I prefered the 2010s. Just received my 2012 Contrada wines and have not tasted them yet.
Terre Nere - The 2011 base wine was great. The 2012 is very good also. No real aging required, and I would be worried about the fruit falling off. Just tasted the newly received 2013 tonight. Touch of reduction that blows off after 10 min and leaves a really nice wine. 2011 Santo Spirito is very good and drinking well. But will probably benefit from short term cellaring.
Le Vigne di Eli - 2012 base wine has just arrived. Opened one and I liked it but the wine had a pine resin/petrol aroma to it. I have two of the single vineyard wines but have not tried them.
Hope this helps a little bit. I did a visit to ETNA two years ago but was unable to taste many older wines.
This, essentially. Many things are still work in progress there and people are experimenting a lot. Beyond vintage reports, my impression is it would be very difficult for outsiders to generalise about vintage differences based on just tasting the wines. I’ve also been following these quite closely for quite some time now, but, more often than not, I find it difficult to distinguish between what is a hallmark of the vintage and what a result of fine-tuning in terms of winemaking and style (a lot of that still going on with most producers).
As for track record, aside from Calabretta (I think the 2004 Etna Rosso is already on the market), I’ve only had Benanti’s wines going back to the mid-'90s, and they have all held up really well (specifically Pietramarina, or Pietra Marina as it is now called, and Rovittello). I had the impression at one point that De Grazia’s Cru wines from those early vintages (Guardiola and Calderara Sottana '02-'04) were probably best drunk between 5 and 10 years of age, but I still have some left and will be checking in on them soon. Ciro Biondi’s MI 2006 seemed fully mature recently.
(I think at some point people will inevitably also start drawing more of a distinction between Etna’s South and Etna’s North, between the different Contradas, etc. Etna is indeed a many-splendoured thing 
)
Also, I’d be wary of drawing too close an analogy between Etna and Faro. My impression is they are quite different places. Palari’s Faro definitely ages really well (for example, I think the ‘01 is just now coming into its own) and the Santa Ne’ ‘04, tasted two months ago, is still relatively young, needs to evolve and can, I think, hold and continue to evolve for a long time (ten or twenty years more? I wouldn’t be surprised). Enza La Fauci’s Obli’ also seems to me to be built for at least 10-20 years, if not more. Oliver could probably say more about Bonavita, another remarkable Faro wine.
As for the whites, Pietramarina really stands apart in terms of style, reputation and track record. I do have a feeling that some other whites could be very good mid-term agers (my money would be on Erse Bianco and Musmeci Bianco by Fessina and, perhaps, Grasso’s Mari di Ripiddu and Masseria Setteporte N’Ettare, but I think this is little more than mere conjecture at this point.
Ive tasted all of the '12 Passopisciaro (I import them, in stock). Knockout warmer year, where the higher elevation sites (Rampante, Guardiola) made
More interesting tension filled wines. The Porcaria is the sexiest in fruit density and depth as usual, but not as much tension/treble notes. Sound acidity in all of them.
At least as regards the Terre Nere base wine, I thought the '11 was riper and more forward, the '12 more tannic and backward. And '10 was leaner than both. Haven’t had (or seen) the '13 yet.
Pretty much agree on these notes, where they overlap with my own. The 2010 Passopisciaro is drinking beautifully with about 1 hour of air. What I recall of the higher elevation vineyards is that, while very good, the edgy character of these wines really called for some additional bottle age.
For the Terre Nere, I tried the 2010 Guardiola, which does not seem to have the same length as the Santo Spirito from the same vintage, but nonetheless is a supple, balanced wine. The Santo Spirito from 2010 has another dimension of minerality and expression on the palate. The 2011 Santo Spirito struck me as a more tannic wine, but possibly even longer and deeper than the 2010. This one drinks well with some air, but doubtless will benefit from some more bottle age. 2012 base Terre Nere is very good, although some bottles were still showing reduction.
FWIW, the RMP vintage chart has a line for Sicily/Etna going from 2012 back to 2003, but it doesn’t distinguish different regions or between red and white wines. Top year is 2004 at 95, with 94 for 2007, 93 for 2005, 92 for 2012 and 2006, 91 for 2011, 90 for 2010 and 2008, and 88 for 2009 and 2003.
Who would this be from? Galloni is the only one I know who reviews this region carefully…