2021 'Feudo' Etna Rosso 95WA/95VM

Girolamo Russo
Mt. Etna, Sicily

95 pts Vinous
The 2021 Etna Rosso Feudo is dark and brooding in the glass, slowly unfurling with an enticing mix of dried black cherries, incense, clove and crushed ashen stones. This sweeps across the palate with velvety textures, quickly firming up as masses of black raspberry and salty minerals saturate. Edgy tannins linger along with an enlivening bump of vibrant acidity, keeping the mouth watering despite the 2021's youthfully structured state. The balance of power and elegance here is utterly spellbinding. - By Eric Guido on March 2024

95 pts Wine Advocate

The 2021 Etna Rosso Feudo is a bit more accessible overall, but I love the way the bouquet and the mouthfeel play out in this vintage. The wine offers precision and clean linearity. Fruit comes from 70-year-old vines, and the aromas are nuanced and delicate with wild fruit, rose and crushed flint. The finish is extremely smooth and silky with melting tannins.

Varieties:

Nerello mascalese 94%
Nerello Cappuccio 6%

The land of this contrada was already being farmed at the time of the ancient Greeks (who lived in the settlement which would eventually become the modern-day town of Randazzo). The Greeks themselves planted vines here.

The terrain is very ancient, dating back at least 15,000 years (to the period in which the Elliptical Crater was formed).

The soil is deep and generous, and the area enjoys a microclimate created by the winds blowing in from the Val Dèmone (according to legend, inhabited by demons – because the volcano was the considered the door to the underworld).

The wine produced here is supple, smooth and expressive. Its earthy aromas are reminiscent of roots and the subtle complexity of ancient loam.