Girolamo Russo - Etna Rosso 'Calderara Sottana' 2021

Giuseppe Russo had been studying to be a pianist when his father Girolamo died unexpectedly in 2005. He then came back home to Mount Etna to take over the family vineyards. Since that time he has been organically farming these old vines, some of them more than 100 years old, and he has restored the old cellar under his house. He has 15 hectares of vines on the North side of Etna, around the town of Passopisciaro, including pieces of some famous ‘contrade’, as the historic localities are known here. For Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo lovers, Nerello Mascalese is an exciting discovery. It can produce reds of impressive subtlety and structure, drinkable when young and even better with a few years of age. 

Giuseppe’s vineyards are planted on ancient lava flows called ‘sciare,’ which vary in age, mineral content and topsoil composition, with underground pockets that allow water retention to keep the vines hydrated during the heat of the summer. The solid rock of these lava flows breaks down over time, eventually becoming loose enough that a plant’s roots can penetrate. All of the Etna DOC is at relatively high elevation for red wines, more than 500 meters above sea level; to some extent the elevation counteracts the effect of latitude, in terms of the mesoclimate around the vineyards. 

Russo makes a range of Etna red wines, all made almost entirely of Nerello Mascalese. A’Rina is his estate wine, made mostly from fruit from his younger vines. Then he produces five wines from single ‘contrade,’ San Lorenzo, Feudo, Calderara Sottana, Feudo di Mezzo, and Feudo di Mezzo ‘Piano delle Colombe.’ Russo also makes an Etna Rosato from Nerello Mascalese and two Etna Bianco bottlings made mostly of Carricante, with other local white varieties. In the years that we have been dealing with Giuseppe these wines have gone from afterthoughts to excellent, and I find whites and rosés from Etna to be among the best wines of their type in all of Italy. 

Made of Nerello Mascalese with about 5% Nerello Capuccio, grown in the ‘contrada’ of Calderara Sottana (Randazzo) at about 700 meters (2,300 feet) above sea level, very high for red wines. The vines were planted by massal selection in the 1970s; yields are very low, less than two tons per acre; the grapes are picked by hand in late October, brought to the cellar in Passopisciaro, mostly de-stemmed (perhaps 20% of bunches left whole if the stems are ripe), crushed, and fermented using indigenous yeasts. The skins are macerated in the wine for a total of about fifteen days before pressing. Malolactic fermentation takes place spontaneously in the spring, when the weather warms up; the wine ages in used puncheons for about eighteen months before bottling. About eighteen hundred bottles are produced in a normal vintage.

“The Girolamo Russo 2021 Etna Rosso Calderara Sottana emerges as one of the finest wines made on Etna in recent years. The bouquet is nuanced and rich with many moving parts, which span from red fruits, cassis, blue flower and campfire ash. These tones are linked together with seamless integration but remain lifted and bright nonetheless. The wine shows fine structure and plenty of minerality on the close.” - 96 Points, Wine Advocate

“Sweet berry and flower aromas with orange peel and blossom. Very intense and flavorful yet stealth and focused. It’s medium-bodied with ultra-fine tannins that run the length of the wine. Chewy and polished. Drink after 2025 but already extremely attractive.” - 95 Points, James Suckling

Producer: Girolamo Russo 

Country: Italy

Region: Sicily

Varietal: Nerello Capuccio, Nerello Mascalese

Appellation: Etna DOC

Vintage: 2021

Size: 750ml