The chart below shows an updated Etna bianco superiore database.
I have begun a process of seeking to identify the best of the bunch by asking persons with the relevant expertise to give me a list of their top four Etna Bianco Superiores and the reasons why they are so ranked. Below I provide the information collected to date. This is, of course, an ongoing process.
Eredi di Maio's Affiu received three mentions while Vigna di Milo, Nuna, i Custodi's Imbris, and Barone di Villagrande's Contrada Villagrande received two mentions. Maugeri's Contrada Volpare, Foti's Palmento Caselle, Iuppa's Lindo, Gaetano Russo's Contrada Praino, Benanti's Pietra Marina, and Federico Curtaz's Etna Bianco Superiore all received one mention.
Eredi di Maio was described as "a young winery with an old soul. The vineyards are very dated, partly a hundred years old, and give birth to wines of an absolute depth, of impeccable typicality and great quality. Bright colors that turn from straw to pale golden, nose of fresh, ripe white-fleshed fruit, orange blossom, honey, and hints of citrus. Sour, feschissimo sip, with supportive but never excessive alcohol content, very pleasant salinity. Very good even hours after opening the bottle. Excellent."
For those favoring Barone di Villagrande's Superiore, they saw the issue thusly:
Barone di Villagrande, year after year, presents an unmistakable style of a version of Carricante from mature plants, with excellent agronomic care and an excellent winemaking style. Broad in its typical aromas of orange blossom, citrine notes, and field herbs supported by an excellent balance between glycerine and vibrant acidity. Balanced taste and remarkable aging capacity. A signature wine.
A second supporter placed this wine alongside Terre di Nuna and Contrada Praino. "I think these superiores represent well the East side of Mount Etna. The wines are fresh, elegant, and mineral with big structure in the mouth and long life inside the bottle. I love to pair these wines with food because they clean the palate and enhance every taste."
Benanti's Pietra Marina was mentioned as a milestone among Etna's superiores. "Deep aromas on the nose of warm, comforting notes of herbs, hints of honey, citrine notes and hints of hydrocarbon with time. Enveloping, powerful and vertical taste, surprising in its evolution year after year. A must in the cellars of a true enthusiast."
Iuppa's Lindo "is the fruit of a careful selection of clusters that come from the largest, southern/northern district of Milo... a wine of blinding straw color with a well-defined territorial imprint. Crisp, yellow-fleshed fruit, herbaceous nose, iodine, lemon orange blossom and an unmistakable smokiness given by the soil coming from volcanic lapilli continuously erupted from the southeast crater of the volcano. Powerful and suave at the same time. Suitable for aging. Persistent and very pleasant.
Foti's Vigna di Milo has bright acid but there is still a textured palate, a rounded edge but not due to any oak aging.
A Palmento Caselle disciple: "I remember Palmento Caselle being tightly wound and precise. Showing more acid than fruit but that will balance out over time and an understated salinity to wrap around the whole package. This is a bottle that will just continue to grow over the next 10 years. A terrific example of an Etna Bianco Superiore."
I had the distinct pleasure of tasting the vast majority of Superiore wines at the VinoMilo 2024 event titled Milo, il Carricante e l’Etna Bianco Superiore: contrade, produttori, biodiversità, sostenabilità — Quarta edizione and wondered if the organizers tipped their hands as to which they though were the best wines of the lot. A few points of note:
- Some of the top producers (Foti, for example) were not represented and producers with multiple Superiores did not submit their top wine(s).
- As I pointed out in an earlier post, Milo can be divided into three grape-growing zones (based on altitude): 500 - 650 m; 700 m; and 800 - 900 m. The fact seems to have been taken into consideration in allocating the Superiores between the four flights of the tasting: (i) With the exception of Primazappa, and Contrada Villagrande, the first two flights consist of wines drawn from the lowest and middle elevations. (ii) With the exception of Benanti’s Contrada Rinazzo and Contrada Villagrande, all of the Superiore wines in Flights 3 and 4 are drawn from the highest-elevation vineyards.
- As it relates to the contrada, all of the Superiore wines in Flight 4 were sourced from grapes grown in Contrada Caselle.
It has been my experience that tastings ramp up to a crescendo, with the most "desirable" wines coming later in the evening. If one follows this logic, the organizers seem to be pointing to the higher elevation wines as the most desirable and with a partucular focus on Contrada Caselle. No conclusions here. Just saying.
