Calabretta
Vigne Vecchie Sicilia Nerello Mascalese
Sicily, Italy
The dark and dusty 2014 Nerello Mascalese Vigna Vecchie smolders up with a blend of medicinal blackberries, cherries, balsam herbs and licorice. This flows across the palate like pure silk, yet with building tension. Tart wild berry fruits saturate, and a nervous acidity puckers the cheeks. The 2014 tapers off staining, long and structured, as a coating of fine tannin resonates, and violet inner florals fade. At times, the 2014 reminds me more of a Barolo than a Nerello Mascalese. However, now almost ten years old, it still requires cellaring to come fully into balance. (Eric Guido, Vinous, September 2023)
The dark and dusty 2014 Nerello Mascalese Vigna Vecchie smolders up with a blend of medicinal blackberries, cherries, balsam herbs and licorice. This flows across the palate like pure silk, yet with building tension. Tart wild berry fruits saturate, and a nervous acidity puckers the cheeks. The 2014 tapers off staining, long and structured, as a coating of fine tannin resonates, and violet inner florals fade. At times, the 2014 reminds me more of a Barolo than a Nerello Mascalese. However, now almost ten years old, it still requires cellaring to come fully into balance. (Eric Guido, Vinous, September 2023)
Masses of crushed black cherries laced with Christmas spice, lavender and dusty cedar waft up from the 2010 Nerello Mascalese Vigne Vecchie. It’s fleshy and round upon entry, offering ripe cherries, plums and burnt citrus that saturate the palate. Brisk acids work hard to add vibrancy and lift, in spite of the staining of concentrated primary fruit that lingers throughout the finish. The result is one of gravelly tension yet also satisfaction, like biting into a fresh yet tart raspberry. The 2010 Vigne Vecchie is the current release for this bottling, which spends six or seven years refining in 50- to 70-hectoliter Slavonian oak botti prior to bottling. It’s an experience wine, to say the least. (Eric Guido, Vinous, June 2021)
Masses of crushed black cherries laced with Christmas spice, lavender and dusty cedar waft up from the 2010 Nerello Mascalese Vigne Vecchie. It’s fleshy and round upon entry, offering ripe cherries, plums and burnt citrus that saturate the palate. Brisk acids work hard to add vibrancy and lift, in spite of the staining of concentrated primary fruit that lingers throughout the finish. The result is one of gravelly tension yet also satisfaction, like biting into a fresh yet tart raspberry. The 2010 Vigne Vecchie is the current release for this bottling, which spends six or seven years refining in 50- to 70-hectoliter Slavonian oak botti prior to bottling. It’s an experience wine, to say the least. (Eric Guido, Vinous, June 2021)
Garnet with low concentration. VA and Brett.... until after two hours: leather, tar, tart cherry, dried herbs, and licorice. Large neutral oak. Elevated acidity, tannin, and body.
Garnet with low concentration. VA and Brett.... until after two hours: leather, tar, tart cherry, dried herbs, and licorice. Large neutral oak. Elevated acidity, tannin, and body.
Jul 22nd, 2019
Warm vintage, elevated alcohol and concentration but much welcome for dinner on a cold January night. Scorched earth typicity prevails over barnyard aromas, slight va adding lift, but generally a sound bottle compared to past experience. The velvety/evolved tannins of this wine elevated its rusticity past other more predictably high toned and rigid Etna Rossos.
Warm vintage, elevated alcohol and concentration but much welcome for dinner on a cold January night. Scorched earth typicity prevails over barnyard aromas, slight va adding lift, but generally a sound bottle compared to past experience. The velvety/evolved tannins of this wine elevated its rusticity past other more predictably high toned and rigid Etna Rossos.
Jan 18th, 2019Super complex nerello with 10 years on it - sweet cherry & smoke; herbaceous and dusty, grapefruit rind and blood orange. Intense, somewhat Burgundian (similar to R. Lopez de Heredia’s Viña Bosconia) with some tasteful Brett peaking through. Aroma wafts out of the glass. Palate is on the austere side, super dry but provides tart fruit and grippy tannins that suggest this could go another 10 years and only get better.
Super complex nerello with 10 years on it - sweet cherry & smoke; herbaceous and dusty, grapefruit rind and blood orange. Intense, somewhat Burgundian (similar to R. Lopez de Heredia’s Viña Bosconia) with some tasteful Brett peaking through. Aroma wafts out of the glass. Palate is on the austere side, super dry but provides tart fruit and grippy tannins that suggest this could go another 10 years and only get better.
Jan 10th, 20192007 close or at its peak remarkable in its combination of primary and tertiary flavors. Delicious.
2007 close or at its peak remarkable in its combination of primary and tertiary flavors. Delicious.
Oct 17th, 2017It's Etna ina light, almost stemmy, and delicious package. The kind of wine I could drink any Tuesday night
It's Etna ina light, almost stemmy, and delicious package. The kind of wine I could drink any Tuesday night
May 5th, 2017Smokey forest floor with big bright cherry notes. I guess I should be drinking more aged Etna. Incredibly well done
Smokey forest floor with big bright cherry notes. I guess I should be drinking more aged Etna. Incredibly well done
Mar 14th, 2017
Smoky, burnished w age, lots of tertiary notes and the mushrooms forest floor funk thing still strong. Pretty, really. The Etna version of old school Rioja- they age the bottles for you
Smoky, burnished w age, lots of tertiary notes and the mushrooms forest floor funk thing still strong. Pretty, really. The Etna version of old school Rioja- they age the bottles for you
Jan 17th, 2017