2020 Ciro Biondi Etna Rosso San Nicolo

WINEMAKER: Ciro Biondi
REGION: Sicily, IT 
VARIETY: Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio
VITICULTURE: Organic

The ‘San Nicolo’ vineyard is roughly half-a-hectare, and was originally owned by Angelina Biondi, the great aunt of Ciro. She was a fantastic person, died at the age of 99, with a great sense of humor and young spirit. The vines lie on the side of a spent crater, which is 12,000 years old and very steep, with supporting dry stone terraced walls. The soil is very rich in iron especially on the top, where there is red pumice. All the vines in this vineyard are ungrafted, thanks to the volcanic soil which won’t support phylloxera. Like his ‘Outis’, the Rosso produced from ‘San Nicolo’ is 80% Nerello Mascalese-20% Nerello Cappuccio. The wines from this site tend towards elegance and perfume.

"The reputation of the wines of Mount Etna, the enormous active volcano that dominates the north-eastern corner of Sicily, has shot up in the last few years. It is now known as one of the best wine-producing areas in Italy; I think correctly. Ciro Biondi's family has owned vineyards in this area since at least 1800, and first sold bottled wine under their label a century ago; the modern iteration of the Biondi winery started in 1999. Ciro (an architect by training) and his wife Stef own three vineyards near the small town of Trecastagni, and have reworked an old palmento in one of their vineyards as a winery. Barrel storage is in the little old cellar of the family house in the center of Trecastagni." - Andrew Guard