A Red Wine From Sicily's Volcanic Soil

Duca di Salaparuta is one of the oldest wineries in Sicily, producing fine wines since 1824. Their  Vajasindi Estate - in northeastern Sicily, on the slopes of the Etna volcano - has given the Reina family two native grape varieties for a pair of new wines. Lavico Etna Rosso DOC 2020 and Lavico Etna Bianco DOC  2021 are made, respectively, from Nerello Mascalese and Carricante grapes. The winery says that these wines exhibit "the grace of the mountain, the warmth of the sea, and the minerality of the volcano." The wines of Duca di Salaparuta are sustainably grown.

The 2020 Lavico Etna Rosso DOC is aged partly in concrete tanks and partly in French oak barrels, for a total of 12 months. Alcohol hits 13% abv and it sells for $34.

The color of the wine is a very light ruby, very elegant looking. On the nose, there is a beautiful bouquet of cherry candy, ripe strawberry and roses. The palate offers more of the same - delicate red fruit flavors are tinged with minerals and the tannic structure is very fine, almost dainty. The finish leaves a lovely impression of the fruity side of this wine, with enough of the savory side present to make one wish for more.

The 2021 Lavico Etna Bianco DOC is aged in stainless steel tanks for four months, on the lees, before getting another three months in the bottle. Alcohol tips only 12.5% abv and the wine retails for $34.

The pale wine has a nose that screams savory - salinity and minerals abound. Despite that, there is plenty of fruit to go around - stone fruit, lemons and mango. The palate is where that minerality really lives, with a taste of the ocean meeting all that citrusy fruit. Acidity is in full force, while the finish is lengthy and memorable. 

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A White Wine From Sicily's Volcanic Soil

Duca di Salaparuta is one of the oldest wineries in Sicily, producing fine wines since 1824. Their  Vajasindi Estate - in northeastern Sicily, on the slopes of the Etna volcano - has given the Reina family two native grape varieties for a pair of new wines. Lavico Etna Rosso DOC 2020 and Lavico Etna Bianco DOC  2021 are made, respectively, from Nerello Mascalese and Carricante grapes. The winery says that these wines exhibit "the grace of the mountain, the warmth of the sea, and the minerality of the volcano." The wines of Duca di Salaparuta are sustainably grown.

The 2021 Lavico Etna Bianco DOC is aged in stainless steel tanks for four months, on the lees, before getting another three months in the bottle. Alcohol tips only 12.5% abv and the wine retails for $34.

The pale wine has a nose that screams savory - salinity and minerals abound. Despite that, there is plenty of fruit to go around - stone fruit, lemons and mango. The palate is where that minerality really lives, with a taste of the ocean meeting all that citrusy fruit. Acidity is in full force, while the finish is lengthy and memorable. 

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A White Italian Wine From The Shadow Of Mt. Etna

The Cusumano winery - now Under the Terlato umbrella - was started in 2001, when brothers Alberto and Diego Cusumano took over for their father, Francesco.  Winemaker Mario Ronco makes the Cusumano wines entirely from estate grown grapes, from five different territories throughout Sicily, including Alta Mora from Mount Etna.  Diego is the winery's export manager, who spoke for the business during a recent virtual event put on by the Italian wine guide, Gambero Rosso International.

The folks at Cusumano say the 2019 Cusumano Etna Bianco Alta Mora uses the best Carricante grapes grown in the districts of Pietramarina and Verzella, in Castiglione di Sicilia and in Arrigo in Linguaglossa.  The volcanic terroir makes the wine what it is - a complex, character-driven wine.  Alcohol checks in at 12% abv and the wine generally sells for about $53.

This wine is tinted lightly yellow and carries a hefty bit of salinity on the nose.  There is also the scent of lemons, almonds and a wet sidewalk.  The palate shows terrific minerality, a nutty backbeat and a citrus finish that lingers.  I would like a little more acidity, but this is fresh enough.

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L.A. Restaurant Does Italian Wine Right

I'm disgusted with myself that it took me so long to get to Sotto in Los Angeles.  It's 15, 20 minutes from my home, right down Pico.  No excuses.  I should really get out more, and when I do, I should go back to Sotto.

Italian food from a chef who knows Italian food, with Italian wines to match.  Steve Samson owns the joint, and the food is fantastic.  The pizza crust nearly brought my wife to tears; the pork meatballs did it to me. 

It's the wine I'm here to blather on and on about, though.  Wine Director Jeremy Parzen brings his knowledge of Italian wine to bear on what people are calling one of the most interesting wine lists in L.A.  Parzen, like me, writes about wine.  Unlike me, zillions of people read his blog - DoBianchi.com.  It's one of the more widely read wine sites on the web, and one of the better ones, too.  Parzen is a wine genius, I know because I read him.  He may be an actual genius, too.  I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me.  Because of his involvement in Sotto, my expectations of the wines were high.

The 2016 Cirelli Trebbiano d'Abruzzo is $12 by the glass at Sotto.  Abruzzo is an Italian region, east of Rome, between the Adriatic Sea and behind the rain shade of the Apennine Mountains.  The Agricola Cirelli farm is organic, downright biodynamic with such attention given to the interaction of animals with the vines. 

My wife says she gets pork drippings and honey on the nose, the pork a memory from her childhood in an Italian household in Pennsylvania.  She also likes the savory, herbal flavors.  I get a nose full of wet rocks, the seashore and a slightly smoky note that seems almost shy.  The palate shows a grand salinity and stone fruit, dry as a bone. 

Denise had a Sicilian wine, probably because we’ve never been let down by one.  This one was the Biondi Etna Bianco Outis, at $18 by the glass.  It's made from the indigenous Carricante grape, in the Etna Bianco region.  The area covers the foothills of the Etna volcano, both north and south sides, and the Biondi grapes grow in the south.  The Carricante is blended with other local white varieties, like Moscadella dell'Etna, Minella, Malvasia and Catarrato.  The wine got about eight months aging in stainless steel.  We both loved the ocean on the nose and the volcanic rock on the palate.


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