Tasting selected Cabernet Sauvignon wines from the 1997 vintage, one of Napa's best

Our team was so impressed with the 1997 Chateau Montelena at our last tasting that we immediately decided to explore that Napa vintage in greater depth. The results of that exploration are reported herein.

The Vintage

We were not the only ones impressed by the 1997 Napa vintage. According to Vinfolio Blog, the 1997 vintage is considered "nearly perfect" by most critics in that "it is rich and concentrated, yet it balances those flavors with plenty of complexity and nuances ..." A summary of the vintage notes from three sources are provided in the table below.

The Wines

Attendees were instructed to bring at least 1 bottle of 1997 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon to the exclusion of the 1997 Chateau Montelena. The wines brought are shown in the chart below, along with their geographical distribution and selected characteristics.

The Tasting

The wines were divided into flights based on geography depicted in the chart above and fell naturally into the following categories:

• Knights Valley, Sonoma (Peter Michael Les Pavots)
• Northern Napa Valley (Philip Togni, Beringer Private Reserve, Viader, Spottswoode)
• Upper Central Napa Valley (Beaulieu Vineyard, Heitz, Insignia)
• Lower Central Napa Valley (Opus One, Dominus)

Tasting Team: The Herbst view

Tasting Team: The Wittenstein view

Flight 1: Peter Michael Les Pavots

Author -- Beautiful nose. Dark fruit, red fruit, baking spice, clove, and some sapidity. On the palate, creaminess, forest floor, good acid, and drying tannins. Balanced.

Sean -- Tobacco and dark fruit on the nose. Palate was smooth with nicely resolved tannins. Balanced. Elegant with more dark fruit on the palate with something green, perhaps green peppers. Pleasantly surprised by this since I haven’t had too many stand out Peter Michael wines; this one did stand out.  

Flight 2a: Phillip Togni 

Author -- Black currant, blackberries, sandalwood, forest floor, herbs, and mint on the nose. Rich black fruit, spice, and resolved tannins on the palate. Balanced.

Sean -- Nice balance and long finish. Spice box on the nose along with dark berry fruit, a hint of clove perhaps. On the mouth loads of dark cherry. My favorite of the flight. 

Flight 2b: Beringer Private Reserve

Author -- Elegant. Plum and dark fruit. Soft finish.

Sean -- Immediately hit with fruit, so quite fruit forward for its age. Plum on the nose, some blackberry with a hint of something smoky. On the mouth more blackberry and plum as well as some coffee. Good finish. 

Flight 2c: Viader 

Author -- Phenolic, acetone, VA

Sean -- Bottle flawed with VA, so nail polish on the nose. Had thought maybe it would blow off, but never did. First sip or two I thought was drinking, but never really did. 

Flight 2d: Spottswoode -- Dark fruit on the nose along with leather, cedar, and mint. Dark plum, mint,  and cherries on the palate.  Balanced. Long finish.

Sean -- I’m typically a fan of Spottswoode, having had a few 07s in the past. This wasn’t one of the better Spottswoode bottles I have had. I believe most appeared to enjoy it, but I thought it average at best. Had some spice box on the nose, some bell peppers, and forest floor, which is something I like in a wine. On the palate though, it felt off. It was a bit tangy, tart, or sour. Not sure if I took much from the taste, but maybe some dark cherry and coffee, chocolate, but that is about it. 

The Philip Togni was the consensus wine of the flight.

Flight 3a: Beaulieu Vineyards Georges de la Tour

Author -- Black cherry, blackberry, allspice, leather, and mint. Nose carries through to palate. Medium finish. 

Sean -- Lovely nose, very perfumed, spicy, earth and cedar, but not sure I picked up that famous Rutherford dust, which I took to mean like a cocoa powder, but a nice nose nonetheless.  On the palate big fruit, dark cherry and other dark fruit was prevalent. 

Flight 3b: Heitz Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Author -- Mint, eucalyptus, cedar, cigar box, black olive, and tea on the nose. Rich dark fruit on the palate along with mint, licorice, and eucalyptus. Long finish.

Sean -- This was a show stopper for me. Easily the best wine of the flight and the best wine of the tasting. Older Heitz is always interesting. Lovely nose, spices and herbs, a bit of that eucalyptus one finds in their Martha’s Vineyard wine. Very much a smooth operator. Nicely balanced with a great finish and on the mouth dark cherry and blackberry, black currant, and something anise, or licorice maybe? Just a lovely wine. Makes me want to attend a Heitz tasting next (hint-hint). 

Flight 3c: Insignia

Author -- Somewhat disappointing as, back in the day, this would have been in the upper echelon of the wines on show here tonight. Black fruit, iodine, tea, leather, and earth. Black fruit, leather, and herbs on the palate.

Sean -- Big Cali wine. Typical of what one comes to expect from California in terms being a massive wine. On the nose I was hit immediately with smoky meat, which put me in mind of a Northern Rhone as well as that was like fruitcake (I hate fruitcake). Felt that on the mouth it was a bit off. Had a bit of a sour quality to me. I wonder if it would have benefited from more air? What I could taste was big dark fruit, some hints of chocolate and mocha. Wasn’t terrible, but not my favorite. 

The Heitz was the wine of the flight.

Flight 4a: Opus One

Author -- Black currant, pencil lead, cassis, leather, tobacco, and spice on the nose. Dark fruit, cassis, tobacco, and leather on the palate. Medium tannins and acid and a long finish.

Sean -- Very much like a Bordeaux on the nose with forest floor, some hint of graphite, and something smoky, or tobacco-like, and perhaps leather later on as it sat in the glass. Tasted a bit young or more tannic than I thought it would be. Not sure if it needed more time in the bottle or more air in the decanter. Left me wondering how it would be in another year or two. Taste of dark red fruits, but while not bad at all, wasn’t as good of an Opus One like I’ve had before, but decent. 

Flight 4b: Dominus

Author -- Dark fruit, leather, cedar, and graphite on both the nose and palate. Additionally earth and mint on the palate. I am partial to Dominus and Trotanoy so I was rooting for this wine. It delivered complexity.

Sean -- Big wine, but in a good way. Paired nicely with the food, which was a short rib. On the nose was graphite, some spice box, and smoke. On the mouth, big red fruits, currants, dark cherry and just a touch of coffee. Of this flight I enjoyed this the most, so giving the wine of the flight to the Dominus.

Dominus was indeed the wine of the flight.

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The full Monty

We set out, in this exercise, to explore the character of 1997 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, based on our very positive experience with a Chateau Montelena Estate Cab of a similar vintage. The vintage did not disappoint, providing high-quality juice from the first bottle we tasted to the last (The exception to this rule was the Viader which had succumbed, somewhere along the way, to the vagaries of volatile acidity.). Complex, balanced wines with dark-fruited noses, accompanying tertiary aromas and flavors, richness on the palate, with great acid levels, resolved tannins, and lengthy finishes were the order of the day (night, actually).

Surprisingly for me, the wine of the night was the Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon. This was not one of the vaunted single-vineyard offerings of the estate; rather, it was the remnant of the single-vineyard-offering construction process. Not only did it represent its estate well, it trounced, in the estimation of this group, some big guns along the way.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Milo (Catania, Sicily) context: The physical environemnt

In this post I continue to provide context on the comune of Milo. I kicked off this series with an overview of the history and economics of the comune and continue herein with the physical aspects of the winemaking environment.

Milo is the only area within the DOC where Etna Bianco Superiore can be produced. The eastern slopes are unprotected from the autumn and winter rains but the combination of rapid runoff and early morning sun contribute to their attractiveness as growing regions (especially for whites). This comune, as described by Salvo Foti, lies between the mountain and the sea and the warm air from the latter meets with the cold air from the former over Milo with the result being significant rainfall (average 1500mm/year) over the entire growing area.

In addition to the rain, growers have to contend with year-round winds which can attain speeds of as much as 50 miles/hour. There are beneficial aspects to the winds, however. Moisture dries out rapidly, keeping vine diseases at bay and allowing vineyards to make it through the growing season with only sulfur and copper sprays. 

According to Salvo, the sea and wind combine to imbue the Carricante grown on this side of the mountain with a saltiness that is not evident in Carricantes grown on the north face. According to Benjamin North-Spencer (New Wines of Mt Etna), the soils have a high mineral content but, in addition, breezes coming in off the sea are trapped at altitude and the salt moisture they contain come back to earth with the rain. These mineral, saline wines are endowed with incredible acidity and longevity and, if produced well, can age for 15 to 20 years.

The Valle del Bove, the horseshoe-shaped structure that dominates on this side of the volcano, is, according to Ben, the original shield volcano's crater. This crater blew the top (15,000 years ago, according to Ben; 8,000 and 60,000 years according to other sources) off the mountain and then fell back in on itself. It collected snowfall from the mountain, forming a glacial lake and decomposing the volcanics that were the core of the seven volcanoes that comprised the Elliptico (The decomposition of volcanic material forms allophane, a type of primordial clay, which is sticky for nutrients and holds water temporarily so that it can be accessed by the vine roots. The allophanes, due to their construct, provide a much greater surface area for nutrient attachment than does other more traditional clays.).

The eastern flank of the volcano was involved in a landslide that deposited water and eroded volcanics over the slope where we find Milo located today. These eroded volcanics were distributed over a very steep and plateaued environment. 

The soil is sandy and of volcanic origin with a substantial portion of ripiddu (lapilli and eruptive pumice) intermixed with red soils from the Sahara Desert deposited here by the aforementioned winds. The sandy soils drain rapidly, forcing the roots to dig deep in search of moisture and nutrients. 

The EtnaDOC Consorzio recently introduced a new DOC map with 142 contrade, eight of which are located in the Milo comune. The map, and the expanded Milo section, is illustrated in the chart below.

Information source: Ugo Nicosia (Marketing and Communications Director, Azienda Agricola Iuppa) communication with Brandon Tokash

The chart also shows information on the characteristics of the Milo contrade and the wines made therein. 

The second chart below is a map of producers by contrada. 

This map is a work in progress and will be updated with info as our knowledge expands and will also be deepened with the addition of producers as I dialogue with them and get their stories.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Maugeri: Reclamation of a Mt Etna patrimony

In February of this year, in a Wine Spectator article titled "What is Etna's Next Wine Wave?", Robert Camuto identified Carla Maugeri as one of the producers to watch.

Carla Maugeri

According to Robert, Carla has teamed up with Tuscan-born winemaker Emiliano Falsini in order to realize a dream first pursued by her father (Renato) and his siblings 50 years ago.

Maugeri enologist Emiliano Falsini with 
author

The author with Renato Maugeri and
Brandon Tokash

Maugeri is the effort by Carla and her sisters (Michela and Paolo) to restore their -- as they see it -- patrimony.

Brandon and I paid a visit to the estate and were guided through the lands and the wines by Gea Cali, the winery's Export Manager.

Gea welcomed us on to the property and first took us on a tour of an "eno-lodge" construction site. During the tour we encountered the remnants of the family's unsuccessful attempt at the winemaking business 50 or so years ago. A cellar full of bottles from the 1973 vintage bear testament to the futility of that effort.

Historical evidence of "ancient"
Maugeri winemaking efforts

More historical evidence of past Maugeri
winemaking efforts 

We ventured into the vineyards after leaving the construction site. According to Gea, the Maugeri holdings are comprised of 83 terraces on 7 ha stretched between Contrade Volpare and Praino at 700 m elevation on Mt etna's eastern slope. The property -- 6 ha in Volpare, 1 ha in Praino -- is enclosed within an unbroken line of 28 km of lava dry stone. The amphitheater-shaped construct is constantly washed by sea breezes which contribute significantly to the health of the grapes.

The soils in the two contrade are similar -- sandy volcanic with high organic content and rich in minerals -- but Gea contends that the soil in Praino is more "tufa-like."

The Carricante grape is the heart and soul of the estate being, as it is, the basis of all wines with the exception of the Bianco Catarratto and the Etna Rosato (Nerello Mascalese). Vines are alberello-trained and are planted at 6000/ha.

Gea Cali and Brandon Tokash

The Maugeri Carricante vines attain their highest quality levels in the Frontebosco and Frontemare vineyards in Contrada Volpare and Contrada Praino, respectively. Frontebosco is south-facing and, as such, has the highest number of hours of sunlight of any area of the property. Frontemaro faces the sea, while Frontebosco faces the forest. Both are moderated by their respective environments.

Frontebosco (Screenshot from maugeri.it)

Frontemare (Screenshot from maugeri.it)

In addition to Carricante, Catarratto (0.5 ha) and Nerello Mascalese are planted in Contrada Volpare. The Catarratto is planted on north-facing slopes while the Nerello Mascalese is planted in rockier areas.

The distribution of Maugeri wines by contrade and grape variety is shown below.

We repaired to the tasting room to taste these wines and to sample some of the Maugeri fare.

The first wine tasted was the 2023 Etna Bianco Superiore. That growing season was hot but with some rain in July. The vines were green-harvested in September (Historically, the fruits of the green harvest had been left on the ground but they are now being vinified.). The grapes were cryomacerated for 3 hours after which they were vinified in stainless steel tanks using selected yeasts. The wine was aged on the lees for 8 months in 60% French oak barrels and 40% stainless steel tanks. No malolactic fermentation or batonnage. The wine was fined and filtered prior to bottling. In the future this wine will be aged for a full; year, 90% in steel tanks and 10% in oak barrel.

Sweet white fruit on the nose, along with a savory character, herbs, and salinity. Broad-based acidity on the palate which, over time, morphs into a fine-boned citrus. Persistence.

The Etna Bianco Superiore Frontebosco 2023 was treated differently in the cellar due to the added hours of sunlight that this south-facing vineyard received during the course of the growing season. Cryomaceration was extended to 8 hours. Vinification in stainless steel tanks followed by lees-aging in 60% Frenck oak barrels (old and new) and 40% steel tanks. No malolactic or batonnage.

Salinity, sweet white fruit, and green and dried herbs on the nose. Fuller bodied. Slowly enveloping salinity on the palate along with lime and a juiciness.

The grapes for the Etna Bianco Superiore Frontemare 2023 were cryomacerated for 3 hours prior to fermentation, 30% in stainless stell, 70% in French oak tonneaux.

Sage herbs, sweet white fruit, herbs, and mint. Rustic on the palate with some heat.

The Etna Bianco Catarratto 2023 (IGT Terre Siciliane) was fermented in stainles steel tanks and aged on its lees for 4 months with an additional 2 months in bottle. The wine is Catarratto in purity

Full round mouthfeel. Palate-engaging. Persistent.

The 2023 Contrada Volpare Etna Rosato represents a firming up of the fermentation process for this wine. In 2021 this wine was fermented in oak while in 2022 it was fermented 50% in tonneaux and 50% in stainless steel. In 2023, after a few hours of cryomaceration the wine was fermented as it was in 2022. The wine spent 4 hours on its lees.

Red cherries, spice, blackpepper, and a long, sour finish. We also tasted the 2022 edition of this wine and it had similar characteristics except for a little more salinity.

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Maugeri is a relatively young estate -- the vines are 6 to 7 years old -- but they are, in their focus, exhibiting a maturity beyond their wine years. As newbies , they could attempt to force things and try to be everything to everybody. But no. They are making white wines on Milo. Fullstop. And that focus will stand them in good stead; especially in these formative years. Get really good at one thing before expanding into new areas.

In addition, because the vines are so relatively young, the wines will get better naturally (And they are pretty darn good at this time). According to Salvo Foti, Carricante vines need as much as 15 years to begin producing the highest quality wines. So Maugeri's future is ahead of it.

Excellent wines from an excellent team. 

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Gambino Winery: Aesthetics and wine quality on Mt Etna

One of the kick-off events for ViniMilo 2024 – the municipality’s annual celebration of its wines and regional artisanal products – was a detailed tasting of Etna Bianco Superiore wines. One of the star facilitators at that event was AIS Sicilia Sommelier Federica Milazzo – the 2022 Best Sommelier of Sicily. At the conclusion of the event, I congratulated her on her performance and she extended an invitation for a tasting visit at her place of employment, Gambino Winery.

Brandon and I showed up at the winery’s tasting room on the following day. As we traversed the elongated driveway, Brandon explained that the winery focused on enotourism as a market-facing strategy, a point that was emphasized by the large passenger bus parked therein.

The tasting room was a well-appointed, tastefully decorated, open-plan environment with significant visibility of, and access to, the outside. This was a Napa-quality tasting room and, probably, the most impressive one I had encountered on my many visits to the island. On the other hand, I was a little concerned about what we would see in terms of wine quality. Did this focus on aesthetics detract in any way from delivery of quality wines?

After some delay, we were connected with Federica and she proceeded to lead us on a journey into the world of Gambino wines.

Federica getting us settled in

Brandon checking on the stock market

The winery traces its history back to Vittorio Raciti who, in 1978, formed the initial estate by combining several plots of land belonging to different owners. A variety of crops were grown at this time, with wine grapes restricted to 1 ha (two terraces of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio).

In 2002, Victorio descendants – Maria Grazia, Filadelfo, and Francesco Reciti Gambino – along with their mother, Maria Gambino, “renewed the business and modernized the wine production process.”  In 2012 they hired a new agronomist and a new wine-maker and made the decision to expand the structures on the property in order to support an enotourism strategy. 

Today the winery controls 25 ha between Mt. Etna and the Caltnissetta area of central Sicily. The central Sicily property is planted to Grillo, Cabernet, and Nero d’ Avola. The Mt. Etna vineyards are located at elevations ranging between 850 and 900 meters and are planted to Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Carricante, Catarratto, and some Minella. Olive trees and forests take up the remainder of the space. 

The vineyards are protected from the elements by the nearby mountains and are bathed in a constant breeze which aid the health of the grapes. The soils are volcanic, mineral-rich, very sandy, and poor in organic material. Vineyards are organically farmed and managed to a low yield per plant in order to achieve balance, the hallmark of quality wines. 

Federica poured a 2018 Spumante during the early part of our conversation. The estate has been producing this wine style since 2013. The 2018 vintage is 100% Nerello Mascalese and spent 25 months on its lees.

Gambino Mt. Etna still wines are bottled under the Tifeo (bianco, rosé, and rosso) and Petto Dragone (rosso) labels. Tifeo, in Greek mythology, was "the son of Gaia (mother Earth) and Tartarus … was a giant … who participated… in one of the many fights against Zeus.”

Grapes for the Tifeo white wines are planted 5200 vines/ha and have yields of 6,000 to 7,500 kilos/ha.  

The 2023 growing season experienced very high temperatures. Grapes were handpicked and de-stemmed prior to fermentation with selected yeast in stainless steel tanks.The wines spent 7 to 9 months on the lees and 3 months in bottle prior to release on the market. The wine has aromas of sweet white fruit and herbs. On the palate, salinity, minerality, and spice. Persistence.

The 2021 was elegant, with salinity and a herbaceousness on the nose. Balance. One of the best wines I had tasted on the trip to date. All elements in place and delivered simultaneously.

Petrol and herbs for the 2017 while, like the 2021, the 2018 exhibited elegance. Savory on the nose with aromas of walnut, minerality, and mint. Lime, salinity, and minerality on the palate. Brighter than the previous wines.

The Tifeo Rosé wine is made from Nerello Mascalese grapes grown under similar vineyard conditions as for the grapes used in the white wine. The grapes spend 4.5 hours in a cool room prior to a soft pressing (some of the grapes are de-stemmed, some are whole-bunch-pressed). The must is then fermented in stainless steel vessels. Fermentation and aging are similar to the process utilized in white wine production.

The 2023 had a perfumed strawberry nose along with minerality and salinity. Rich and medium-bodied with strawberry flavor, stone fruit, and orange zest. The 2019 was pleasant, with an overarching savoriness.

Gambino red wines are bottled under the Tifeo and Petto Dragone labels. The Petto Dragone label is named after the home contrada and is aged in large oak barrels. 

We tasted the 2020 and 2018 Tifeo. The 2020 showed red fruit, beeswax, mahagony, petrol, mint, and spice on the nose. Focused and high-toned on the palate. This wine was aged in 25% new oak and 25% tonneaux.

The 2018 was fermented in stainless steel with cap management to include delestage and pumpovers. Post-malolactic fermentation, the wine spent 1 year each in French oak, vats, and bottle, This wine exhibited a higher degree of oak on the nose than did the 2020.

The 2020 Petto Dragone showed great balance. The 2017 was broad-based. Sweet red fruit. Concentrated, with power and intensity.

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The quality of the Gambino surroundings is mirrored in the quality of its wines. The white is leaner and less sapid than its counterparts on the eastern slope but, that being said, it drinks superbly. I was especially impressed with the 2021 edition of the bianco.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Tenute Ballasanti: On the path to realization of a Mt. Etna wine dream

The ViniMilo 2024 program for the evening of August 30 called for a  “White Volcanos” tasting dinner to be held at the Barone di Villagrande winery. The event brought together white wines from volcanic locations paired with locally sourced and prepared small dishes.  Brandon had secured tickets for us to attend. It was somewhat nostalgic for me because I had visited and toured the winery on a previous trip to the island.

 

The evening was enjoyable and was capped by a reunion with Barbara Liuzzo who had led us through our initial tour of Barone di Villagrande. Barbara was in the company of Manuela Seminara, the co-owner of Tenute Ballasanti, an estate to which Barbara is providing consulting services. We engaged in spirited conversation and, coming out of that, I learned a few things about the estate.

 

Tenute Ballasanti is a modern incarnation of a grapegrowing-wine making legacy that stretches back to Manuela’s maternal great-grandfather Don Lorenzo, and his wife Mara, who farmed the now-named Il Temerario Vineyard, a 2.5 ha property in the Ricceri Ciapparo district in San Giovanni Montebello. "This was in the early 1900s when Etna exported wine to phylloxera-devastated France." Don Lorenzo’s son, Don Angelo, subsequently diversified beyond wines into citrus, olives, figs, prickly pears, strawberries, chestnuts, pomegranates, quinces, and maple trees. 

Manuela was born and raised on this familial property but left home in her youth to finish her thesis abroad. She worked in Brussels, and then in Milan, as an executive in the semiconductor field, but, always, in the back of her mind was the memory of Sicily and that farm. She had gotten married over this period and her husband, Fabio Gualandris, himself a high ranking business executive and scientist, began working on realizing and expanding that dream resident in the recesses of her mind. Towards that end they: acquired additional properties, extending holdings to 7.5 ha (7.5 of which are under vine at three separate locations); have taken steps to introduce two CRU labels at the end of 2025 to join the three currently on the market; and have plans afoot to build a new winery in Piedmonte Etneo. 

Fabio Gualandris and Manuela Seminara
(Screenshot from company website)

The wine philosophy, as captured by winealchemy.co.uk, is to draw on "local grapes, organic farming, and tradition to create high-quality monovarietal wines." Attainment of the company's goals are aided and abetted by a mix of local and imported talent. For example, while agronomy is handled by local experts, enological skills have been imported from Piedmont. The company's first enologist was the Piemontese Gianluca Scaglione but he was replaced by another Piemontese, Luca Caramellino, earlier this year. It is expected that Luca will give elegance and personality to the wine going forward. Needless to say, they most likely felt that those characteristics were missing/muted under the old regime.

The characteristics of the individual vineyards are illustrated in the chart below. 

At the end of the conversation, we agreed that Brandon and I had to taste the wines as soon as possible. Barbara took on the responsibility and shortly thereafter we were issued a formal invitation to do so.

At our tasting meeting, Barbara indicated that the soul of the winery is wrapped in its white wines and she fully expects that they will introduce a Superiore (Etna Bianco DOC wine produced only in Milo and with higher constituent requirements) in the future. 

Barbara Liuzzo and Brandon Tokash on
the day of the tasting 

We tasted the current market release (2022) of each label as well as the yet-to-be-released 2023 editions.

The first wine tasted was the 2022 Etna Bianco DOC. This wine is 100% Carricante sourced from Il Tenace Vineyard. The bunches are destemmed softly after which the grapes were allowed brief contact with the must. This was followed by soft pressing and extraction of the free-run must. The must was then fermented in steel tanks and aged therein for 6 – 8 months. It is then racked off the lees and aged in bottle for an additional year. 

This wine was aromatic with notes of citrus, tropical fruit, green herbs, and sweet white flowers. Lime/orange skin on the palate along with high acidity, minerality, green herbs, and a hint of salinity. Pleasant. I loved this for a by-the-glass (BTG) program. 

The 2023 version of this wine showed sweet white flowers and intense fermentation notes. Bitter on the palate with high acidity. A very young wine that would do very well with food.

The 2022 Siciia DOC is 100% Nerello Mascalese from the Il Temerario Vineyard. Gentle destemming of the bunches then alcoholic fermentation in temperature-controlled tanks with 20-day maceration including manual punchdowns and delestage. Aged in French oak (a combination of Tonneaux and Barrique) for eight months and then spent one year in bottle. This wine will be aged in stainless steel going forward.

Balsamic, shoe polish, sweet red cherries, nuttiness, and crème custard on the nose. Broad-based red fruit on the palate with roundness emphasized. Drying, bitter note at the rear of the palate. Long, mineral finish.

The Sicila DOC 2023 exhibited smoke, wood, creaminess, spice, and licorice on the nose. Sweet dark fruit and balsamic on the palate along with a good acidity and smooth tannins. 

The Etna Rosso DOC 2022 was sourced from century-old vines in Il Sublime Vineyard. Grapes are destemmed after harvesting and then subjected to alcoholic fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. The wine is macerated on the skin for an extended period during which the cap is managed by pumping-over and batonnage. This particular wine was aged in small ceramic containers  and partly in French oak tonneaux. Malolactic fermentation in wood. Six months of bottle-aging. 

Linear, with some phenolic notes. Sour cherry. Tannins somewhat tamed by the barrel. Mineral. Great BTG.

 

The Etna Rosso DOC 2023 exhibited eep red fruit, turpentine mango, and herbs on the nose. Powerful red fruit on the palette with a hint of wood. Tannins add character and texture.

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Tenute Ballasanti have taken the early steps on its path to the production of high-quality grapes and wine in the Etna zone. It has a current stable of wines that are pleasant to drink in the early stages, a feat for east-slope wines and they have done so while eschewing commonly held approaches for taming Carricante's acidity. 

The company has a good fruit base and it is now a function of how they execute going forward. They have taken the hard decision of replacing their legacy enologist with a Luca Caramellino and we will have to wait to see how that decision affects the wines. Luca is expecetd to craft wines with more elegance and personality and, if successful, would lift the wines from the BTG niche that they currently occupy to truly superb wines. Attaining that goal may also require adding to the stable of vineyards that the estate currently owns (or procuring fruit from even more desirable vineyards).

©Wine -- Mise en abyme