2016 Eduardo Torres Acosta Viticulore, Nerello Mascalese, Versante Nord, Terre Siciliane IGT Rosso, Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy.
I’ve really loved these Mount Etna sourced wines from Eduardo Torres Acosta since his first vintage was imported here a couple of years ago, and this Nerello based 2016 from two parcels, both north facing on the volcano is lovely, fresh and exotically spiced, showing this grape in its most flattering light, like Burgundy in class with sense of weightlessness, but with depth, complexity and lingering succulence. The parcels, Pietramarina and Verzella, are located between 550 and 700 meters on soft soils consisting of lava ash from various eruptions on Mount Etna, with Acosta’s vines being between 45-50 years old and they are a field blend mix of close to 80% Nerello Mascalese and 20% other native varieties, including the white Carricante. The Versante Nord red is made via spontaneous fermentation (indigenous yeast), with about 10% whole cluster and It was fermented in cement tanks with somewhere about two weeks on the skins, then the wine is aged 16 months in a neutral Slavonian oak botte (a larger cask). The finished product is a joy in the glass with brandied cherries, spiced raspberry and tree picked plums leading the fruits here in this ruby red and garnet colored wine, adding mineral notes, herbs, flinty red pepper and macerated rose petals along with a earthy hint of reduction. The medium weighted palate is ripe in sweet (smooth) tannin and lifted with pop of energy from the natural acidity with air allowing everything to unfold in stylish fashion. These Etna Rossos are in many ways like Pinot, not flavor wise, but in their silkiness and vibrancy, plus their flexibility with food, especially as you can slightly chill them too and serve with squid ink pasta and briny sauce and or spicy grilled octopus, plus more conventional cuisine.
Eduardo Torres Acosta, a young winemaker from the Canary Islands, first began working with vines in Tenerife where his father (a local postman) had a small plot of land. In 2012 Eduardo moved to Sicily, where he interned at Azienda Arianna Occhipinti, you may have heard of her, one of the natural wine world biggest stars. Soon thereafter he got a job as the enologist at Azienda Passopisciaro, for a few vintages, who are one of the pioneers of Etna’s new wave of producers. Though soon his own label took off, needing more of his full attention. Being imported by natural wine specialist Louis/Dressner has paid off in the states, they have done a great job to put his wines on some great wine lists and Acosta has caught the eye of more than a few influential Somms, making his wines a tough get. Louis/Dressner adds, even despite Eduardo’s “outsider” status, since he wasn’t born on Sicily, he has managed to rent several fine parcels on Etna from the suspicious locals. Up until the 2017 vintage, according to his importer Louis/Dressner, the grapes were harvested and then trucked to Arianna Occhipinti’s estate in Vittoria. Since the winemaking facility is not on Etna, where the grapes are grown, the wines Acosta have made were not allowed DOC status and must carry only the IGT Terre Siciliane designation on the labels, in case there was any confusion. Eduardo was able to convert a small Etna garage into a winery, so this may well change with the release of the 2018’s. Acosta is a name to watch and his wines, a white, this Versante Nord red and a single parcel Nerello Mascalese are all worth searching out.
($35 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive