2017 Girolamo Russo, Enta Rosso DOC, ‘A Rina, Sicily, Italy.
The lighter framed, smoky, and mineral toned garnet/brickish 2017 ‘A Rina Etna Rosso, made by Giuseppe Russo of Girolamo Russo, comes from various Contradas, or crus, notably including the famous San Lorenzo, Feudo, Calderara Sottana and Feudo di Mezzo with mature vines that range in age from 20 to 100 years old, making a very delicious, slight reduced and savory expression of terroir. Russo’s 2017 ‘A Rina has a medium body and an underlying satiny feel, though is still authentically rustic with balsamic and gun flint notes, with a rounded and maturing palate of brandied cherry, strawberry and plum fruit, along with fennel, rosemary, cinnamon, cigar wrapper, camphor and dried rose petal accents. The final blend is typically 80-90% Nerello Mascalese, with a small dose of Nerello Cappuccio included, and maybe a tiny percentage of other varietals that are rare native grapes that were interplanted in some of the terraces. These sloping vineyard sites, on the cooler exposures of the north side of Europe’s most active Volcano are dominated by the volcanic soils and kept healthy through organic practices, which Giuseppe employed, after the death of his father in 2005, to make the best wine possible. Mount Etna is one of Italy’s most exciting growing regions and in recent years there’s been an amazing array of talent on display here, with these Girolamo Russo wines being certainly a great addition and well worth searching out, I am excited to try their new releases in the near future!
The Girolamo Russo winery, an all organic tiny Etna producer, led by Giuseppe Russo, who was a professionally trained and performing pianist, that started this label in 2005 with his family’s old vines vineyards, some of which are now a 100 years old. He works 15 hectares of vines on the cooler North side of Etna around the town of Passopisciaro, one of the most famous areas on the volcano and uses mostly the Nerello Mascalese grapes, one of the most iconic of Sicilian varietals these days. The signature Etna red grape is a varietal that thrives on the volcanic soils, it makes for a fine tannin structured, silky medium bodied, wine that leads to comparisons with Burgundy (Pinot Noir) with it’s elegance and complexity. Of course though with very different with its exotic lava/ash spiciness and brambly red fruited profile, it has it’s own terroir character that gives a unique appeal and style, as seen here in the Girolamo Russo wines. All of Giuseppe’s cru wines are crafted the same way, with native/natural yeast, without fining or filtration, or temperature control at fermentation and employing a gentile 10-12 day maceration, with hand punch downs, with each of the small lots kept separate until blending into each of the wines. The wines are aged in neutral oak casks, along with some concrete, on the fine lees for close to a year before bottling. Giuseppe Russo was keen to learn his craft and was inspired by the region’s stars, but truly wanted go his own way without being constrained by dogma or modern influences, relying on what he believes is the best way to express his terroir, as seen here.
($40 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive