10/9/25 - 

Did we all think New York was going to be colder by now? While I’ve noticed many people pivoting to red wine season, I’m still craving white wines. Today we are featuring a mix of Mount Etna whites and reds to satisfy whatever mood you’re in during this transitional season: Carricante for the whites and Nerello Mascalese for the reds! This is ‘Part I Sicily: Mount Etna’, and ‘Part II Sicily: Marsala, Vittoria & Noto’ comes out this Friday. Each part will feature three excellent producers at the top of their craft in Sicily. Part I will focus on the very special high elevation and volcanic soils of Mount Etna and Part II will feature winemakers from the cities of Marsala, Vittoria, and Noto and some very special bottles from the island of Pantelleria near Tunisia (but technically Sicilian).

I Custodi

I’m always slightly hesitant to compare Mount Etna white wines to White Burgundy. My skepticism comes from wanting the quality of Etna to shine on its own, not in the shadow of comparison. But if it helps bring context to the soulful whites from Mount Etna, then I can justify it! Etna is moving towards a Burgundian classification system anyway, by designating certain ‘contrade’ in the spirit of a ‘cru’. 
 
Today I have two whites from Mario and Manuela Paoluzi of I Custodi, both from the South Eastern slope of Mount Etna. This side of the volcano is slightly more humid and salty from the winds of the Ionian Sea below. Carricante reigns supreme here, and is the single varietal permitted for Etna Bianco. Mario and Manuela Paoluzi are members of I Vignieri, a consortium of Etna growers formed by Salvo Foti. Foti is actually the person who introduced the Paoluzis to their first vineyard site, which led to the birth of the I Custodi project in 2007. This consortium recognizes the special characteristics of wines from Mount Etna, with its high diurnal temperature swings, volcanic soils, soaring elevation and hundred year old ungrafted vines.

Ante Etna Bianco 2021 absolutely blew me away when I tasted it in September with its many layers of flavor. Then I tasted the Etna Bianco Superiore Imbris 2020 with its further bottle aging and 100+ year old vines, and it was transcendent, reminding me of a Coteaux Champenoise. More tasting notes and technical information are below if you click “View Wines”.

Calabretta
 
Massimiliano Calabretta sets his own standard for winemaking on Mount Etna. He is farming organically and his wines are fermented in steel with indigenous yeasts and then aged in very large older wood botte for up to several years depending on the vintage. They are then transferred to enormous resin tanks before bottling. The resulting wine retains the freshness and vibrancy of Nerello Mascalese, with very attractive older-wine aromas – some more forest-y tones added to intense Etna minerality. Coming from 60-80 year old vines in the sweet spot on the north side of Etna where many of the best producers have their vineyards, from ground rich in minerals from decayed volcanic lava and ash, the wines have unmistakable Etna terroir. They are uncompromisingly old-school, and the Nerello Mascalese Vigne Vecchie (formerly called Etna Rosso) is certainly one of the great wines of Etna. 
 
Calabretta is the only Etna producer to age this long, their current release is the 2016, which offers us a unique view on the aging capacity of Nerello Mascalese (short answer: it can age very well!).

Monterosso
 
Monterosso started as a project of three best friends (Ferlito, Marconi and Strano) who had deep interests in food and wine. In the aughts, they were living in the coastal city of Catania on Sicily's eastern shore. And though Ferlito left to pursue ambitions in London, Marconi and Strano stayed in view of the towering Mount Etna. In 2012, the friends decided to seek vines, and after two years of searching, they claimed half a hectare on what Ferlito described as "the most beautiful cru on the volcano." They released their first vintage in 2015.

The estate drew its name from the 600 meter-high volcanic cone, red with iron-rich soil and aptly known as Monte Rosso. Mount Etna's slopes are covered by countless "parasitic" cones like this. They are created when volcanic activity causes breaks or swelling along magma channels en route to the major, or central, cone. (Explanation courtesy of San Diego State University, College of Sciences website) Monte Rosso, for example, emerged during an eruption in 1329. The friends, who now have two hectares, organically care for old Nerello Mascalese and Carricante vines (averaging 70 years of age) on soils of sand and pumice. Ash from the volcano, with elements such as potassium, phosphorus and manganese, is also intermingled. The vines are trained in an ancient style known as alberello egeo, which means each one is planted alone and supported by a single chestnut post.

From their holding on Monte Rosso, the team produces the Sisma, which we have both the 2016 and 2019 vintage of today. Whereas, the grapes that go into their Volcano label are purchased from vineyards that they either manage or that meet their standards of organic farming.
 
-Marisa Licandro

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