Nerello Mascalese

Nerello Mascalese is the principal red grape of Etna, and it has become one of the most fashionable Italian varieties of the last two decades — a remarkable turn for a grape that was, until the early 2000s, mostly sold in bulk.

It grows on the terraced volcanic slopes of an active volcano, at altitudes from 400 to over 1,000 metres, on soils of black basalt, ash and lava sand that vary enormously between contrade — the traditional named plots that function much as Burgundian climats do, and which producers increasingly bottle separately.

The wine is pale, aromatic and high in acid, with red cherry, wild strawberry and dried orange peel, over notes of rose, dried herbs, tobacco and a distinctly smoky, ashy volcanic minerality. Tannins are fine and firm. It bears an obvious and frequently remarked resemblance to Nebbiolo and to Pinot Noir, and the comparison to Burgundy is made so often that it has become a marketing cliché — which does not make it wrong.

Many of the vineyards are pre-phylloxera, ungrafted alberello bush vines well over a century old, surviving because the sandy volcanic soil is inhospitable to the louse.

It ripens very late, often into November, and its structure comes from altitude and the enormous day-night temperature swing on the mountain.

It is usually blended with a small proportion of Nerello Cappuccio, which adds colour and softness.