Grecanico Dorato, Millesulmare, Santa Maria La Nave 2020
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Why this wine
One hectare at 1,100 metres on Mount Etna makes this among the highest vineyards in Europe, and the extreme swing between day and night temperatures shows in the wine's tension. Grecanico Dorato is rarely seen outside Sicily and almost never at this altitude or with this much care behind it.
At a glance
- Grape
- Grecanico Dorato
- Region
- Sicily, Italy
- Alcohol
- 12.00%
- Body
- Light
- Acidity
- Medium
- Sweetness
- Dry
- Drink
- Medium (5-10 yrs)
- Pairs with
- Seafood, Salads, Poultry & Pork
How it tastes
Gold in the glass, with apple, white peach, pineapple and citrus lifted by vanilla and white pepper over a wet-stone, volcanic minerality. Light-bodied and dry, the acidity balanced rather than sharp, finishing long and leesy. Grecanico Dorato 100%.
The producer
Santa Maria La Nave is a small Etna winery founded in 1954 by Giuseppe 'Peppino' Mulone, making tiny quantities from difficult ground. The single hectare of Grecanico Dorato sits on the north-western slopes of Mount Etna at 1,100 metres, among the highest vineyards in Europe, planted from several ancient clones chosen over a fifteen-year massal selection and grafted onto Richter 110 and Paulsen 1103 rootstocks; the vines are trained mostly on Guyot in highly organic soil laid over old lava flows, and summer days reaching 35°C give way to nights just above 1°C, which draws ripening out and keeps the acidity intact. The hand-picked grapes were destemmed and gently pressed to take only the first 60 per cent of the juice, cold-settled at 10°C for 36 hours and fermented with indigenous yeasts at 18 to 20°C, then stirred weekly on the fine lees before a light clarification, filtration and several months in bottle.
Food and drinking
Serve at 10 to 12°C. Good with grilled prawns, swordfish, a herb-dressed salad or roast chicken. Drinking well now and will develop over five to ten years. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans.