Pietradolce Etna Rosso 2019

Today’s winery is one of Sicily’s new elite, and doing just the tiniest bit of research on the producer lends eye-opening results. “Pietradolce boasts some of the most beautiful vineyards I have ever seen. I cannot exaggerate this point.” wrote Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. “Pietradolce is long known for extremely high quality red wines”, is what Ian D’Agata of Vinous Media chimed in with. Even James Suckling who never mixes his words (and never uses too many) called the wines made off of Pietradolce’s vineyards, “the best in the region.”

It turns out that it’s abundantly clear who the top dog is. And it turns out that this may be the hot spot (no pun intended) to be that top dog. As Jancis Robinson recently pointed out:

“Of potentially even more interest .. is Nerello Mascalese, traditionally grown up to 3,300 ft on the slopes of Mount Etna, where the more and more ambitious vine-growers are braving the volcano’s portentous and very real eruptions.

Etna, with its rich mix of different elevations and exposures and densely planted centenarian vines, sprouting from soils that include congealed magma, has become a magnet for terroir-conscience wine producers. Some see it as a new Cote d’Or, and vine holdings are similarly parcellated.”

Despite being relatively new, Pietradolce’s wines made off the Northern slopes of the Etna Volcano are simply staggering. They choose to focus on only a few wines – mainly Carricante and Nerello Mascalese, two grapes in which consulting enologist Carlo Ferrini specializes.