Mapping the sparkling wines of Italy: Mount Etna's Murgo Winery

Writing in a 2019 Forbes article, the wine writer Tom Hyland noted that Sicily produces some fine examples of sparkling wine but, in his estimation, "the finest sparkling wines from Sicily ... are produced by Murgo."

Murgo is the Mt.-Etna-based agricultural estate founded in 1981 on family historical property by the diplomat Baron Emanuele Scammacca del Murgo. I recently spoke to one of his eight sons -- Michele -- about the estate and its sparkling wines. I report on that InstagramLive Chat in this post.

The author and Michele Scammacca
in an InstagramLive Chat

According to Michele, the family can trace its history on the property back to 1860 but the first still wine was not bottled there until 1982 and the first sparkling wine in 1989. Given his father's diplomatic responsibilities, the family resided away from the estate. Michele was the first member of his immediate family to come back to Sicily when he came to the island after finishing school. Today, four of the eight brothers work in the family enterprise which encompasses wine, olive oil, a hotel, and a restaurant.

The 35-ha Tenuta San Michele estate is located at 500 m up on the eastern side of Mt Etna. This area, due to the high levels of rainfall, is well-suited to the growth of grapes for the production of sparkling wine; red wines from this area are less concentrated than red wines from other parts of the mountain. The estate is planted 50% red grapes and 50% white, with Catarratto and Carricante plantings making up the white contingent.

Michele sees Nerello Mascalese as a great grape for sparkling wine production as it can be aged on its lees for a long time. Nerello Mascalese as a sparkling wine is not very interesting if not aged on the lees for a certain period. Given the early drinking requirements of sparkling wines produced using the Charmat method, Nerello Mascalse is not a good fit for this process. In Michele's view, there are too many Charmats in the market for Murgo to compete successfully in that space. They cannot compete, for example, with the ubiquity and low cost of Prosecco.

In response to one of my questions, Michele expressed some reservations as to the use of Carricante in a sparkling wine. In his view, Carricante is a light wine with not enough concentration to meet the requirements of a sparkling wine. Nerello Mascalese has more structure and thus is better suited. In addition, Murgo, as an estate, does not have a lot of Carricante.

Murgo its constantly improving both its product and marketing. When they first started, there was no market for sparkling wine from Etna; now (prior to the lockdown), they are selling 100,000 bottles annually.

In the early days, sparkling wines were only used for special events and celebrations. Now it is being used as an aperitivo. Another of the myths that Murgo's success has debunked is that you can only make Metodo Classico sparkling wines in the north of Italy. Nerello has great compatibility for sparkling wine due, in great part, to its acidity. Some producers in the south have attempted to use Chardonnay in this role but, when picked early, it produces a wine that is soft and round. And softness covers everything -- including terroir -- in a sparkling wine.

Etna is a unique terroir for growing sparkling wine grapes, endowed as it is with volcanic soil plus high elevation. The soil gives high minerality to the wines. There is no limestone in the Etna soils so the wines are lighter, but with great acidity

Murgo produces four sparkling wines: Brut, Brut Rosé, Extra Brut, and Extra Brut Rosé. Grapes for these wines are a combination of estate and purchased fruit. All grapes are hand-picked two weeks prior to maturity (at this time the acidity is high and potential alcohol between 11.2 and 11.5) and transported to the winery where they are pressed (gently) and fermented in stainless steel tanks. The base wines reside in the SS tanks for 7 to 8 months before being placed in bottles for secondary fermentation.

Th Brut wines spend between 1.5 and 2.5 years on the lees while the Extra Brut spends between 7 and 8 years and the Extra Brut Rosé approximately 4 years. The Brut and Brut Rosé are dosed at 4 g/L while the Extra Brut wines are zero dosage.

The Murgo Brut can be drunk in every situation, says Michele. It has the biggest market position of the Murgo wines because of its price and its fruitiness. Italians, according to Michele, prefer fruitiness in their sparkling wines.

The Brut Rosé is very fruity. It can be used as an aperitif but its good structure means that it can also be used with food. Tuna tartare with Brut Rosé is a great pairing.

The Extra Brut presents delicate sensations of evolution, a nice perlage, good balancing with the acidity the softness and the minerality coming from the terroir. Here you can feel the potential of the Nerello Mascalese sparkling wine.

The Murgo wines are more like Trento DOC and Alta Langa DOC sparkling wines, and less like Franciacorta, due to its acidity. Michele personally prefers wines with more acidity.

The vintages that he likes: 2017 for the Brut and Brut Rosé; 2011 for the Extra Brut; and 2014 for the Extra Brut Rosé.


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