Vini di Luca Virgola Rosso 2023
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The Land
Most Etna labels that reach the US come from estates with dozens of hectares and a brand behind them. Vini di Luca is the other Etna: a family plot farmed by one young grower in Contrada Crasà, near Solicchiata in the comune of Castiglione di Sicilia, on the northern slope of the volcano. The vines sit at 650 meters, in the middle of the horseshoe of the Etna DOC, which climbs from roughly 400 to 800 meters around the mountain. The ground is rough, broken volcanic rock that drains fast and forces roots deep. The north side is the cooler, later-ripening face of Etna, with big swings between warm days and cold mountain nights, and that is what gives Nerello Mascalese from here its high-toned fruit and firm acid rather than southern Sicilian weight.
The Wine
Virgola Rosso is 100 percent Nerello Mascalese, hand-harvested and destemmed, then left on its skins for 12 days in vats without temperature control before a gentle pressing. It spends four months in steel, ten months in reconditioned oak barrels and at least six months in bottle before release, so the wood shapes texture more than flavor. Expect sour cherry, wild strawberry and pomegranate, crushed dried herbs and a smoky, stony edge, with tannin that grips but stays fine and a long, savory finish. The 2023 was one of the hardest vintages Etna has seen. A spring with around 400 millimeters of rain brought downy mildew during flowering, and growers on the north slope reported losses above 60 percent. A dry summer followed, harvest ran late, and the surviving grapes came in small and thick-skinned, which tends to mean concentrated reds with firm young tannin.
The People
Luca Zumbo has a degree in physics and came to wine through his family's land. After World War II his grandfather split a tenant farm among three sons, and only Luca's father, Salvatore, kept his share planted, working it for decades. That persistence is the reason Luca had old Nerello Mascalese to work with at all. He released his first Virgola Rosso from the 2021 vintage, around 700 bottles, from roughly a third of a hectare between Crasà and a second parcel in Contrada Zottorinoto that the family restored in 2018. The vineyard is farmed organically. The name means "comma," and Luca's reasoning is a physicist's: a comma is a pause inside a sentence, not an ending, and he sees this wine as the start of something rather than a finished statement.
Food Pairing
At the table, Nerello Mascalese behaves like Pinot Noir with extra grip. Pasta alla Norma with fried eggplant, tomato and ricotta salata is the obvious start: the acid meets the tomato and the tannin handles the fried eggplant. Grilled pork sausage with fennel seed and charred broccoli rabe gives the wine fat and bitterness to cut through. Swordfish involtini rolled with breadcrumbs, pine nuts and raisins works because the wine has enough acid for oily fish and not so much tannin that it turns metallic. This is the Etna bottle to open when you want to taste a single family's hillside rather than a winery's house style.
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Sicily, Italy’s largest island, blends ancient wine traditions with a fresh wave of modern creativity. Its star red grape, Nero d’Avola, thrives in the island’s warm, sun-soaked climate, producing intensely flavored wines with dark fruit and a hint of savory spice. Along the western coast lies the historic heartland of Marsala, a fortified wine prized for both sweet and dry styles. Rising above the island’s varied landscapes is Mount Etna, an active volcano whose mineral-rich soils and cooler elevations result in elegantly structured reds and nuanced whites. From coast to crater, Sicily’s wine culture is as diverse and vibrant as the region itself.
Italy - Sicily
Named for its pale color and hometown of Mascali, Nerello Mascalese is a rising star in the wine world. Indigenous to Mount Etna, it was overlooked for decades until recently the world has taken notice of the elegant yet powerfully minerally wines produced on the volcanic slopes. Think halfway between Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo.
