Mount Etna is not only Europe’s largest active volcano, it’s probably the most talked-about wine region on earth right now. Everything about it is so extreme that it’s impossible not to be drawn in: You’re at an extremely southern latitude (which connotes ‘hot’), but an exceptionally high altitude (which in reality means ‘cool’); you’ve got porous, ashy soils formed by volcanic eruptions, with old, gnarled, mostly bush-trained vines that look like they’re growing on the moon.
It’s not just an extreme terroir, however, but a genuinely great terroir, blessed not only with well-adapted indigenous grapes but with a tidal wave of new investment and new blood. This wine from Tenuta di Aglaea is emblematic of this Etna renaissance, a pretty and perfumed red from the native Nerello Mascalese grape that drinks like a first-rate Bourgogne Pinot Noir—albeit one with a humble price and a perfumed, Mediterranean twist.
Like most Etna properties, Aglaea is a small-scale operation, working with just a few hectares of vineyards pieced together across a number of villages. Among these are the key wine towns of Randazzo and Passopisciaro, both on the north slope of the volcano, home to the most prized sites in the Etna DOC. Elevations here exceed 2,300 feet, offering exceptional diurnal temperature variations that extend the growing season. (It’s worth noting that people actually *ski* the upper reaches of Mount Etna in winter—can you imagine carving a line down the side of an active volcano while looking down on the Mediterranean Sea? That’s bucket list material right there…)
Aglaea is owned by a Danish-born wine professional, Anne-Louise Mikkelsen, whose career has included long stints working in Burgundy and Tuscany. She’s one of many ‘outsiders’ who’ve descended on Etna like so many gold prospectors in recent years, lured in by the setting, the incredible patrimony of alberello (bush)-trained vines, and the mineral-rich soils. As with a few other sandy/volcanic terroirs elsewhere in Europe, Etna never experienced the ravages of the phylloxera louse, lending it that much more street cred in the fine wine world.
“Aglaea” is one of three Nerello Mascalese wines Mikkelsen makes, comprised of younger-vine fruit as well as fruit from one vineyard that at the time fell outside the Etna DOC boundary (thus the ‘Terre Siciliane’ IGT designation, a ‘geographic indication’ not quite as prescribed as a DOC). Today, the vineyard has DOC status and is bottled as DOC Etna Rosso from 2014 and on. Unlike her other Etna reds, “Thalía” and “Annacare,” Aglaea spends no time in wood; this, I think, ends up working very much in the wine’s favor.
What stands out for me in the 2013 “Aglaea” is its energy and young red Burgundy-like crunch. With some Etna wines I’ve tasted, I’ve found kindred qualities to Pinot Noir and Gamay on the nose but not the palate, which can often skew a little more syrupy and Grenache-like, with alcohols to match. Not so with this wine, which showcases not just the wild red cherry aromatics of Nerello Mascalese but its brisk, pomegranate seed freshness. I loved its brightness, its “cut,” and not because it reminded me of Pinot or Beaujolais but because it felt so resolutely ‘Mediterranean’—which is to say a bright, refreshing, herbaceous red wine I could easily imagine enjoying with some simple grilled branzino or octopus. There’s terrific fruit ripeness but it is lifted, and edgy, and evocative of its place. You need to forget that it’s basically winter and embrace this wine’s summery lilt: pair it with a seafood preparation like this one to take advantage of its tomato-leaf tang and red berry bite.
Although it’s a medium bodied wine, it’s a little tightly wound right after opening, and greatly benefits from 30-60 minutes in a decanter. After giving its considerable aromas an opportunity to blossom, serve it cool, around 60 degrees, in Burgundy stems. As Etna has become the latest region to claim the ‘Burgundy of Italy’ mantle, it seems only right. Enjoy!
