Passopisciaro Contrada P 2018

A rich display of black cherry, licorice, tar and smoke unfolds as the 2018 Contrada Porcaria (P) challenges the imagination. This is dark and brooding in character, the silky wave of black fruit and minerals evolving into a more tactile display of fine-grained tannins and savory exotic spice. The Porcaria is almost salty at times, saturating to the senses and youthfully clenched. Notes of currants and tobacco linger incredibly long. This will require some time in the cellar to show its best, but it will be well worth the wait.

100% Nerello Mascalese. At 650 meters above sea level, this famed vineyard produces one of Etna’s richest, most full-bodied expressions of nerello mascalese, packed with bramble fruit and mineral flavors.

Vinification alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel vats for 15 days and malolactic fermentation in large, neutral oak barrels, then 18 months aging in large, neutral oak barrels.

2018 was one of the rainiest and most tropical vintages seen on Etna in the last eight years, especially at the end of the summer. This year, the team had to increase the number of times they passed through the vineyards to remove leaves mindfully, avoiding any burning but allowing air to pass through the canopy to mitigate the effects of this wet and humid climate. The team also countered effects of disease with natural products like clay and propolis as well.

With the red wines, rain, humid, and sometimes fog are not ideal conditions at the end of the of growing season, but the team, with dedicated effort and the know-hows to work the vineyards, by intervening where needed, in the various Contrade and from the vineyards from which the Passorosso is made.

The wines of this year will be varietally correct, linear, with a pronounced acidity, with the long-lived characteristics that define the finer vintage on Etna.

AWARDS & ACCOLADES

- 97POINTS

Intoxicatingly fragrant, this gorgeous wine opens with enticing scents of perfumed berry, new leather, aromatic Mediterranean herb, camphor and forest floor. Showing body and finesse, the savory, structured palate delivers morello cherry, ripe strawberry, orange zest and a hint of hazelnut alongside firm fine-grained tannins and bright acidity. Drink through 2030