2021 Masseria Setteporte Etna Rosso
Welcome to the volcano! Mount Etna in Sicily is currently the most thrilling wine region in Italy, offering what many
Producer
Masseria Setteporte
I have reviewed one wine from Masseria Setteporte: the 2021 Masseria Setteporte Etna Rosso (90 points).
Masseria Setteporte farms the south-western face of Mount Etna near Biancavilla, far from the crowded northern contrade where most of the volcano’s fame has been made. The Portale family has worked these slopes for generations, and the terroir is genuinely different: more hours of sunlight, balanced by altitudes of up to 700 metres, and soils of volcanic ash, pumice and ancient lava flows.
The result is a broader, warmer expression of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio than the ethereal wines of the north. The Etna Rosso, Nerello Mascalese with a touch of Nerello Cappuccio, has the pale colour and aromatic finesse of Pinot Noir and the wild, smoky heart of Sicily, with real flesh alongside the expected ash and iron.
As Etna’s map is redrawn contrada by contrada, Setteporte makes the south-west slope’s most convincing case.