TN: PietraDolce EtnaRosso '14..(short/boring)

WINE TALK
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Tried this over the weekend:

  1. PietraDolce DOC: EtnaRosso RW (100% NerelloMascalese; 3 mo. in Fr.oak; 14%; www.PietraDolce.It) Flora Faro/Mascali 2014: Med.light ruby color; quite fragrant earthy/rustic bit hot-climate/barnyardy some fragrant cherry/raspberry rather Gamay-like attractive nose; soft bit tannic/lean/metallic/sharp light cherry/raspberry/fairly bright bit Pinotish-like some earthy/rustic flavor w/ light tannins; med. some cherry/raspberry/Gamay-like some earthy/rustic/hot-climate/barnyardy slight bretty/goat-pen some tangy/metallic/sharp finish; a rather lightish earthy almost Bojo-like red; on the rustic side but interesting. $15.00 (PrimaIlC)

A wee BloodyPulpit:

  1. This came from my latest Prima IlConsorzio shipment. I’m not too familiar w/ MtEtna wines, was expecting something more heavy-handed, and was surprised by the lightness of character. Some like Frapatto’s I’ve had.
    Tom
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I would certainly not expect an Etna Rosso to be “heavy-handed” (full-bodied, dark, and powerful), particularly not in that price range. All the really good examples I have encountered have been elegant and relatively high-toned wines. As you go up in price, they become more structured, more intense, and more complex but still not “heavy-handed”.

The strength of the varietals involved (mainly Nerello Mascalese) are their aromatics combined with good acidity and a fair amount of tannin. However, things like earthiness, rusticity, barnyardiness or brettiness are not things I associate with Etna wines in general. My favorite among the less expensive bottlings is Erse by Tenuta di Fessina. Clean as a whistle with very convincing high-toned aromatics.

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Well, the few samples of Etna Rosso that I drank in November/December last year were what I would consider as full-bodied, dark and heavy-handed.

4

So which were those?

5

Indeed. Just a brilliant wine and one of the very best entry-level Etnas (trying to think of a better one as I write this, and a number of good ones spring to mind, but nothing really better than Erse). Also, Musmeci is an overall top-five Etna wine for me, regardless of the price range: in a very exciting and dynamic landscape, few others have been able to achieve this level of true finesse. Not to mention the work they do with their whites, also among the very best in the area. Fessina does a great, great job across the range.

6

Well, I’ve had a few more than I can remember and will have to dig out from photos stored in my computer at home, but I very well know that I had a 2013 Girolamo Rosso San Lorenzo and a 2012 Pietradolce Barbagalli. They were hefty, both with 14.5%+ that were quite daunting and made it difficult to drink after about halfway through the bottle.

However, about 4 months ago, I had a 2001 Etna Rosso Riserva from Patria with dinner at home. Now this one was a bit more elegant and smooth, and I liked it. I suspect that the elegance and smoothness coincided more with the aging that this bottle received.

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I always find it interesting how people compare Etna to burgundy. I just don’t see it for the red (maybe Carricante for whites). I find Etna to be interesting because they pair elegance with a wild rusticity that makes the wines really interesting.

There are some i’ve had that are really light (vino di anna palmento is a good example of the light natural one), but most I’ve had are medium bodied and many have very high alcohols. I actually think taming the alcohol is the biggest challenge in the ones i’ve had. Cornelissen, Pietradolce, I custodi, Calabretta, Bentivegna, Graci can all be pretty hot. Vino di Anna, Tenuta delle terre nere and Passopisciaro are lighter. At least the cuvees i’ve had.

I am really interested in aging. The 2003 Calabretta is def showing alot of tertiary notes. Its unclear to me if the majority of top etna cuvees are long agers.

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Totally with you on these. I see Barbagalli more as a statement on how far you can go on Etna than anything else. It’s certainly not a wine that I need to drink, and I appreciate Pietradolce’s other bottlings much more for their sense of scale and pure drinking pleasure. Girolamo Russo, likewise: I really like A Rina and absolutely love their white Nerina, but can’t seem to warm to their Feudo di Mezzo and San Lorenzo. I’ve only ever had them young (off the top of my head, as far back as 2008 or 2009) simply because they haven’t been around for that long, but my gut feeling is telling me the kind of balance that I look for will never materialise. I’d love my gut feeling to be proven wrong, though: there’s a lot of quality there, but also something simply not falling into place.

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A very thoughtful post. I think the whole Etna/Burgundy shtick was actually triggered by Marco de Grazia who put the meaningless “la Borgogna del Mediterraneo” on his back label…
Generally, I also agree with you on taming the alcohol being the biggest challenge, although, based on my experience, I wouldn’t necessarily agree with all of your examples: I might shift a couple of the producers you name around from one camp to the other, but that’s neither here nor there. The main point still stands.
Your third point: indeed. Personally, I think Calabretta has so far proven to be among the more ageworthy producers (I’m talking Etna Rosso and Nonna Concetta). Other vintages, such as '09, '01 and '02, seem to have aged better than '03 (at least in my cellar). Ageing some other producers from the early '00s has not really led to many memorable experiences. Overall, I think the jury is still out on ageability, and very much so. There’s a lot going on there all the time, though. I’ll certainly continue to watch that space, for all kinds of different reasons.

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Seems we have exactly the same taste, at least as far as Tenuta di Fessina is concerned. Musmeci is an absolute favorite of mine as well. I have yet to try anything other than (the red) Erse and Musmeci from Fessina but just bought a bottle of the white Erse, which is still lying around waiting to be tried. In general, I haven’t so far been as enthusiastic about the white Etnas as about the reds, but then I haven’t tried all that many so I figured I should give it a few more tries. One type of “white”, if you can call it that, which I do like very much are the blanc-de-noirs sparklers made from Nerello Mascalese/Capuccio. Usually inexpensive but very good in my limited experience. Regrettably, they seem close to impossible to source outside the area of production.

What are your other Etna favorite wines/producers? Personally, the ones I have liked best so far, apart from Fessina, are Passopisciaro and Girolamo Russo, although there are several others that I have also enjoyed. However, I recently encountered a Feudo 2013 (not the same as Feudo di Mezzo) from Russo that I found overoaked. It may have been something with how he handled the oak in that particular vintage and/or the vintage per se (Erse 2013 is not quite as convincing as the supply of Erse 2012 that we just finished) rather than the age of the wine at the time of consumption. The Feudo 2010 that I tried a few days later fared much better, as did the À Rina, Feudo and San Lorenzo 2007 that I enjoyed a few years ago. In general, it seems that avoiding excessive (to my palate) oakiness is a bit of a problem in this region (as in some others) and I am now specifically looking out for producers that are on the safe side in that regard.

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The Barbagalli I haven’t tried (have only tasted the Archineri from Pietradolce) so I just refer to what Tvrtko said in that case. When it comes to the San Lorenzo, by contrast, I much liked the 2007, which is the only vintage I have so far tried. I have also liked the 2007 and 2010 versions of its sister wine, Feudo, as well as the 2007 À Rina and I have a hard time thinking of any of these as a blockbuster. It might also be worth mentioning that according to Giuseppe Russo himself, the San Lorenzo is the more structured and the Feudo the more elegant, with the À Rina being a lighter and less complex wine than the other two.

As it happens, I have a San Lorenzo 2013 lying around waiting to be tried. It remains to be seen what I think about it this time around. As I mentioned in my reply to Tvrtko above, I found the Feudo 2013 that I tried just a week or two ago overoaked and not really palatable on that ground. No trouble with the alcohol however, which is “merely” 14% for the Feudo as well as San Lorenzo in that year (according to the labels on the bottles themselves; just checked).

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I’ve been drinking a lot of Etna over the last ten or so years and have come across quite a number of very interesting and occasionally brilliant wines, but, if pressed, I would probably say Calabretta, Benanti, Fessina, Ciro Biondi and some of the Vigneri bottlings.

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Anders, I’m very sorry about the funny editing of my reply, hope you can still read it :slight_smile:. Time to hit the sack :slight_smile:

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No problem Tvrtko. I got it.

Thanks for the tip about Destro. I suppose it’s the Saxanigra you have in mind. Regrettably, the only two hits I get in Europe on wine-searcher are two enotecas on Sicily. So it seems we’re still stuck for sparklers without going there. [cry.gif] Or do you have some secret source you could suggest? [basic-smile.gif]

Destro apparently makes several Etna Rossos and Biancos apart from the sparkler. Have you tried any of these? If so, what do you think about them?

Thanks also for your list of favorite producers. Apart from our joint faiblesse for Fessina, we also share positive impressions of Calabretta and Benanti, although neither has made quite as deep an impression on me as the best of Fessina, Passopisciaro, and Russo that I have come across. The Calabretta Etna Rosso 2001 (sourced from Carlo Merolli in Copenhagen for a mere 14 euro) was the very first red Etna wine I tried. I liked it very much and it wetted my appetite for trying more and going there, as I did shortly afterwards. I also tried at that point the IGT Sicilia (pure N.M.) Nonna Concetta 2006 and the IGT Sicilia Carricante 2006. I liked the former quite a bit but was somewhat less enthusiastic about the latter. Apropos of aging, the 2001 was very much alive and well when we first tried it in the fall of 2010, but I am not sure I would have liked more age on it and have no way of really telling how it had evolved compared to what it was like on release.

From Benanti, I have tried Etna Rosso Serra della Contessa 2003, Etna Rosso Rovitello 2004, and IGT Sicilia Il Monovitigno Nerello Cappucio 2005 (all sourced at the airport in Catania just prior to departure; I had already looked for Benanti elsewhere but in vain, which reflects the fact that it isn’t particularly easy to get a hold of the bottles you want even when you are on site). I liked all of these when we tried them shortly after purchase some five years ago (a little uncertain about the Contessa since I didn’t take notes on that one), just not quite as much as the provisional favorites mentioned above. Don’t know quite how I would perceive them now in view of the fact that they are all aged in barriques (at least some of which are presumably new). I know I didn’t find the oak disturbing (although it was perceptible) when I drank them five years ago but I also know that I have become increasingly oak-averse since.

Ciro Biondi and Vigneri are both completely unknown to me but I’ll make an effort to check them up.

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Yes, Saxanigra. Impossible to get outside Sicily, at least as far as I know. As for Destro’s other wines, I’ve tried a few. Saxanigra is by far the biggest draw for me there.
Calabretta’s range outside the Etna Rosso and Nonna Concetta bottlings can be a bit uneven. Naturally, I find some of the other wines more fun than others. Never liked their whites, though, and I’ve always had the impression they don’t really focus that much on those.
Benanti is a first-rate outfit. I can’t remember a single disappointing bottle over the years. I think Rovittello is a classic, an absolute benchmark for Versante Nord wines, and it seems to age really well. I’m a bit of an oakaphobe myself, but, again, I’ve never come across a single Benanti wine that I considered to be seriously “contaminated”. Benanti also makes what has been, and to my mind very much remains, Etna’s best white, hands down: Pietramarina.
Ciro Biondi makes beautiful, pure, graceful, highly articulate wines with a very powerful terroir expression. Based at least on what you’ve written here so far, I am pretty sure you would like Biondi. Try and track down some San Nicolo’: might be a bit hard as very little is made, but the wine is truly exceptional.

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I think one thing that makes it a little difficult (maybe more so here in the states than in Europe) is that the “market” for Etna Rosso is still in the development stages, so you have to make a real effort to try and track these wines down. For example, finding Benanti’s wines here is difficult.

I have had decent luck tracking down Passopisciaro in recent vintages, but in almost every case so far (since the 2009 vintage), I think the Contrada wines need more time.

De Grazia’s Terre Nere wines are probably one of the easier wines to find because of his long-standing affiliation with the US export market.

17

Thanks for the additional info Tvrtko. As to Benanti, what you say about the relative lack of overt oakiness matches my memory. I’ll try to seek them out again although they do not seem all that easy to get a hold of from where I am. Nothing in Sweden and only a few sources in Germany, where I do a fair amount of my wine shopping since I have friends there who can receive the packages and store them until I can pick them up.

Pretty much the same story with Ciro Biondi. What’s available in Germany at the moment is Outis in several vintages (7, 9, 12, 13), Cisterna Fuori 13, and the white Chianta in several vintages (11, 13, 14). No San Nicolo unfortunately. Any idea about the difference between the various bottlings on the red side?

What I can currently get through the monopoly stores (“Systembolaget”) here in Sweden is the following (prices in SEK at the end, just divide by ten to get the approximate price in euro):

Red
Al-Cantara, O’Scuru O’Scuru 2012, 301
I Custodi delle Vigne dell’Etna, Aetneus 2009, 229
Pietradolce, Etna Rosso 2015, 223
Pietradolce, Archineri 2013, 325
Planeta, Etna Rosso 2014, 169
Girolamo Russo, À Rina 2014, 189
Girolamo Russo, Feudo 2010, 273
Girolamo Russo, Feudo 2013, 329
Girolamo Russo, San Lorenzo 2013, 329
Tenuta di Fessina, Erse 2013, 175

Rosé
Pietradolce, Etna Rosato 2015, 183

White
Firriato, Le Sabbie dell’Etna 2015, 109
Planeta, Etna Bianco 2014, 169
Tenuta di Fessina, Erse 2013, 175

Any comments on these other than those we have already talked about? I know that I have tried the Archineri (2008) but didn’t take notes and have forgotten what I thought about it.

Am I right in thinking that “I Custodi delle Vigne dell’Etna” is in fact identical to “I Vigneri”? Are they just in the process of changing their organization/labeling or what? I find a website for each of them but judging by that for “I Custodi”, it seems like they are the same thing.

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I think Germany is, generally speaking, a great market to buy wine from, probably the best in Europe in terms of sheer breadth and user-friendliness. Given my relative proximity to it, it often makes life a lot easier.
All of Ciro Biondi’s wines are worth trying: it’s a fantastic outfit, and they’re only getting better. As to the difference between the various bottlings, their website is worth looking in on for more than just technical information: great photos that really give you a taste of what it’s like over there. More revealing than anything I could say :slight_smile:
You’re right: I Custodi and I Vigneri are both part of the same overall project. I do not believe that all of the wines under this umbrella are equally successful, but I do think that all are at least worth exploring. And the highs can be very high, at least in my experience (off the bat, check out the recent vintages of the Vigna di Milo carricante: the most serious contenders yet for Pietramarina’s title of Etna’s best white wine and, in my opinion, potentially establishing the vineyards around Milo as the first “grand cru” for carricante).

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2015 Girolamo Russo Etna Rosato made an appearance at my local wine shop a few weeks ago and I found it uncharacteristic, interesting, and a pleasure. It is toffee orange, richly textured, and more complete than any rose I can remember. I returned to the store and bought out the rest of the inventory.

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Although I haven’t tried an Etna Rosato yet, I have no difficulties believing that they are good, just as I already know the sparklers to be. Same is true about Nebbiolo-based Rosato by the way. And judging by the one example of a Nebbiolo sparkler that I have so far tried, that’s not a bad idea either.