Nerello Cappuccio

Nerello Cappuccio is Etna's second red grape and the junior partner to Nerello Mascalese. Its name refers to the hood — cappuccio, or mantello — formed by the dense canopy of leaves that covers the vine, which is its most distinctive feature in the vineyard.

In the Etna Rosso blend it is permitted up to twenty per cent, and its role is complementary: it supplies colour, softness and immediate fruit where Nerello Mascalese supplies acidity, tannin and aromatic complexity. Mascalese produces a pale and austere wine; Cappuccio is darker and rounder, and the blend is better than either alone.

On its own it gives a medium-bodied red with red and black cherry, plum and violet, soft tannins and moderate acidity, with the smoky, ashy volcanic character that all Etna wines carry. It is more approachable young than Mascalese and does not have the same capacity to age.

A small but growing number of producers bottle it as a single variety, partly as a curiosity and partly because it makes a genuinely pleasant, fruit-forward wine in a region otherwise known for austerity.

It ripens earlier than Mascalese, which is useful on a mountain where the harvest can run into November.

Plantings are small and declining relative to Mascalese, as growers on Etna increasingly plant the more prestigious variety. It is essentially confined to Sicily.