Etna Rosso 'Rocca Coeli', Azienda Agricola Palari, Sicily, Italy 2016
Etna Rosso 'Rocca Coeli', Azienda Agricola Palari, Sicily, Italy 2016
“A stunning wine.” -JancisRobinson.com (Tamlyn Currin)
At the time of writing, we don’t have a single Chablis, Pomerol, Barolo or Saint Emilion on our website, but we have seven Etna Rossos and that tells you all you need to know about our bias towards these wonderful wines, whose vines grow on the slopes of one of the world’s most active volcanoes (in 2021 it erupted so much volcanic material that its height increased by approximately 100 feet!). This is one of the most beautiful expressions we have tasted in many a year and hails from the glorious 2016 vintage, whose wines are only just hitting their stride now. It is made from Etna’s ‘hero’ grape variety, Nerello Mascalese, and has wonderful aromas and flavours of wild cherry, sweet plum, dried roses, loose tea, leather, tobacco, and a wisp of smoke from the crater’s edge. An Etna ‘Grand Cru’ that you can enjoy as you would any ‘grand vin’, with complex and elaborate gastronomy or on its own with some Italian cheese. Magnifico! 13.5% alc. Drink now-2026.
Organically farmed
JancisRobinson.com: “How can it be that a wine formed, quite literally, from the terroir of fire and brimstone, is so gentle? How does the texture and scent of a tight-budded, dew-studded, double-petalled, dark-red rose pressed against an old stone wall get to be in a wine from vines crouching in petrified lava up against the slopes of a live volcano? What do roses and fire, raspberries and lava, salty winds and chiffon have in common? Everything. If you're reckless enough. This vivid, metal-clash-flower, blood-red-on-black-on-green, stark-to-silk wine is like a liquid elixir of Frida Kahlo x Che Guevara. Nothing like a little rebellion and revolution on a rose-petal Tuesday – contained, of course, within a glass. Getting serious, this is a stunning wine. Quite simply put. GV (TC). Drink now-2030.” 17.5 points
‘Salvatore Geraci crafts some of the most refined and age-worthy wines found in the northern half of Sicily, in the Faro appellation that, like Etna, is home to the Nerello Mascalese grape. Salvatore, an elegant Sicilian nobleman often seen in a tweed jacket and turtle-rimmed glasses, offhandedly described his latest Etna land acquisition as his "dependence" and otherwise downplayed any importance one could give to the purchase. But soon enough, we knew a new wine estate would be born on Etna. His property in located in the Contrada Marchesa of Passopisciaro in Castiglione di Sicilia and is planted to alberello vines at a cool 800 metres above sea level.’ The Wine Advocate
Customer comments:
“Lived up to my high expectations. Distinctive, tangy and great with food.” - Mr T.M.
"A strong contender for my top 20 wines of the year (and I taste some bonkersly priced stuff at 67 Pall Mall!)." - Mr. I.S.