SommSelect Editorial Director David Lynch swears he isn’t on the payroll at Sicily’s Murgo winery; this wine is a perennial performer and one of the very best red wine values we offer, period.
For some of you, the mere sight of the Murgo label in the above photo may prompt a classic Pavlovian reaction: Actual salivation may occur, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. There are few ‘givens’ in this wine-tasting life, but in the last few vintages, anyway, Murgo’s shockingly well-priced Etna Rosso has been as sure a bet as any. Sicily’s Mount Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano, has become one of the world’s most talked-about and sought-after wine terroirs, attracting a huge surge of investment and winemaking talent to its pumice-strewn slopes. The Scammacca del Murgo family has been farming vines on the volcano for more than 100 years, and it’s likely this permanency that enables them to keep prices low in a zone whose increasingly trendy wines get more expensive each year (and new labels come seemingly out of the woodwork). Take advantage of this. As in previous vintages, the wine is pretty, perfumed, mineral, and a little smoky, as you might expect. What you might not expect—what you couldn’t expect, really, because it’s so rare—is that an under-$20 bottle of wine can communicate something about a place. This one can; that’s why we’ve offered it three years running, and why you’d be wise to grab some of the 2016 today.
Still scattered with countless abandoned vineyards (which newcomers have been racing to revive/replant), the classic Etna image is one of gnarled, old, bush-trained vines known as alberelli (‘little trees’). Vineyard altitudes on the volcano reach up to 1,000 meters, making it some of the highest-elevation viticulture in Europe and the only ‘cool’ region of Sicily, which otherwise has more in common with North Africa than much of mainland Italy when it comes to climate. Baron Emanuele Scammaca del Murgo, a longtime Italian diplomat, decided to re-dedicate his family’s Etna property to wine production back in 1981, a time when Etna wine was little talked-about—most of what was produced from the ancient vineyards here was sold to cooperatives for bulk wine. Nevertheless, Murgo is one of the originals here, farming 25 hectares of vineyards in and around Zafferana Etnea, on the eastern slopes of Etna, which is home to fewer producers than the more densely planted north slope. The Murgo family’s diverse production also includes excellent Champagne-method sparklers from the same Nerello Mascalese grape that drives today’s bright and spicy red.
Like its home region, the Nerello Mascalese variety has catapulted to international fame. By law, it represents a minimum of 80% of any wine carrying the Etna Rosso ROC designation, typically buttressed by the color-enhancing Nerello Cappuccio. Murgo goes with 100% Mascalese for its Etna Rosso, which means it’s always on the more pale and perfumed end of the Etna Rosso spectrum. And it’s precisely the aromatic, Pinot Noir-like personality of Nerello Mascalese that has drawn so much attention to Etna; this is not an inky, syrupy red fitting the (admittedly outdated) “southern Italian” stereotype, but rather a genuine cool-climate red of finesse and nerve.
Sourced from 30+-year-old vines and vinified and aged entirely in stainless steel tanks, the 2016 Murgo Etna Rosso is another triumph of purity and place-expressiveness at a bargain price. In the glass, it’s a pale garnet moving to pink at the rim, with inviting aromas of wild strawberries, red currant, blood orange, dried rose petals, leather, flint, and a hint of smoke. Light- to medium-bodied and beautifully fresh and crunchy on the palate, it is the ultimate Italian vino quotidiano (“daily drinker”). Decant it about 30 minutes before serving in Burgundy stems and keep it nice and cool—55 degrees or even a little less—to maximize its fruit expression. If tasting this wine blind, one might be tempted to think was Pinot Noir from some cool-climate terroir like the Jura or the Loire, but nope, this is Mediterranean all the way, so pair accordingly: It will go with just about anything, but a tomato-kissed seafood pasta gets the nod from me. There’s not much tannin to clash with spice should you want to bump up the chile quotient, as they would in this wine’s place of origin. Enjoy and don’t be shy about stocking up, either—you won’t regret it!
— David Lynch
