Santa Maria La Nave Calmarossa doc Etna 2016

Monte Ilice is an old side crater on the south flank at an altitude of 800m and this is where Sonia harvests her red Calmarossa from 85% Nerello Mascalese and 15% Nerello Capuccio. The very old vines, mostly pre-phylloxera, are cultivated b-dynamically. The harvest is done manually, the grapes are destemmed and fermented at a temperature of 26°C. The dripping wine then flows into another tank for a malo at 18°C. Press wine is not used. After the malo, the wine then goes for a minimum of 9 months in French oak barrels. After bottling, it matures for a few months in the bottle before release. With a powerful bouquet of roses, cherry and raspberry and spicy notes, it is an aromatic, refined, full-bodied wine with very nice tannins and a particularly long finish. Only 2000 numbered bottles of this top wine are produced every year!

Ian d'Agatha (Vinous): "Good saturated red. Ripe, complex, pungent nose combines raspberry, red cherry and tobacco with hints of dark chocolate and licorice. Dense and juicy in the mouth, with compelling inner-mouth perfume and lightness of being, while leaving an impression of opulence and seamlessness. Finishes with big but fine tannins and a lingering hint of stoniness. An 85%-15% blend of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio grown at roughly 800 meters above sea level on the Etna’s south-eastern slope, aged nine months in French oak barrels." 94/100

De 2015 kwam in de top 100 van International Wine Report uit op plaats 19 met een score van maar liefst 97/100!