'The Nine Brothers' Etna Red | Masseria del Pino
'The Nine Brothers' Etna Red | Masseria del Pino
It’s difficult to find the right words to convey what this bottle means to us. We’d have to speak in Sicilian dialect while walking barefoot walk on the warm, rumbling sand of Munt Etna.
The grapes grow on 120 to 140yo vines on the ancient terraces at 800m altitude above Randazzo. Cesare and Federica tend to their vines meticulously, following rules learnt from an old farmer who used to work the land before them. They bring their minute yield (centennary vines produce very little fruit, and in 2017 30% of the harvest was lost to birds with a very good palate!) into their volcanic stone palmento and begin pressing the grapes by foot.
These primitive techniques have changed little since vines first appeared in Contrada Pino in the 9th century, and one can imagine this is what the wine might have tasted like back then. This is a work of alchemy, a truly legendary wine.
Exceptionally low on sulfites (around 15mg/l)
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Driving down the dusty road to Masseria del Pino, Cesare and Federica’s little farm on the volcano's northern slope, it is hard to tell which century we are living in. This is Etna in all its pastoral serenity, with only the sights, scents, and sounds of the mountain to stimulate the senses.
This simple, peaceful lifestyle is precisely what the couple envisioned when they settled here in 2005. They renovated the property’s ancient palmento, a traditional farmhouse featuring an old press and large fermentation vats made of lava stone, and began to work the two hectares of 120-year-old pre-phylloxera vines and olive trees, according to organic and biodynamic principles.
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The health of the vineyard is paramount, so Cesare and Federica never buy young plants from nurseries that could introduce problems, and instead practice marcottage, when a long branch is buried, sprouts its own root system and forms its own new vine. The vines radiate good health, helped by a mix that Cesare and Federica make themselves from organic fertiliser, cow dung, ash, molasses and minerals, which they ferment then spray.
Yields from these centenary vines are tiny, and 2017 30% of the harvest was lost to birds with a good palate!
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Variety: 90% Nerello Mascalese 10% Nerello CAppuccio
Alc: 14%
Agriculture: Biodynamic, hand-harvested.
In the Cellar: Pressed by foot and macerated in volcanic stone palmento.
Region: Northern Etna,800m asl, Sicily
Bottles Made: 2800