Calabretta Nerello Mascalese Vigne Vecchie Sicilia IGT 2016
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The Calabretta family has farmed Nerello Mascalese on Etna's north slope since around 1900, bottling under its own label only since 1997, and the winemaking remains happily out of step with the modern mountain: organic farming, huge neutral Slavonian botti, and no hurry whatsoever. Vigne Vecchie comes from vines 70 to 80 years old, a good portion of them ungrafted, rooted in fine black volcanic ash and sand strewn with lava rock. Six to seven years in cask mean this 2016, bottled as Sicilia IGT, arrives years behind its neighbors' releases and drinks like a different era: dried cherry, tar, and licorice over ashy volcanic tones, the firm structure of mature Nebbiolo carried on a silken, energetic palate. Calabretta does the cellaring so you do not have to.
