Idda

There’s been a lot of rumors about the Gaja family's partnership with Alberto Graci on Mount Etna in Sicily. I’ve been talking with Giovanni Gaja about these wines for over four years now, but only this year I was able to taste these newest vintages that represent what the team believes is truly representative of the style that they have been striving to perfect on the southern slopes of Etna. Carricante is the primary focus of this project, which is unique in the region, considering the southern location of the vineyards. I tasted these two wines with Gaia Gaja over Zoom. The bottles had both been opened for over an hour and had already changed drastically from when I first tasted them before our call. Gaia Gaja explained that the 2020 Etna Bianco Carricante was the first vintage that they were able to bottle a true production of 18,000 bottles from the four most recently planted hectares of vines in the Biancavilla vineyard. Quantities in the two previous vintages only totaled between two to three thousand bottles.

The Bianco is a blend from two vineyard sources, Belpasso and Biancavilla. My tastings revealed a wine that was richer and more expressive than Carricante from the north, which may not be what the Etna purist expects, yet is a truly enjoyable and harmonious expression. The Etna Rosso is a blend of around 98% Nerello Mascalese and 2% Nerello Cappuccio from the Biancavilla vineyard of 1,500 bottles. At this time, there is no intention to drastically raise the red production, but there are some prospects in a northern Tartaraci vineyard (think Frank Cornelissen), that could one day be interesting. The vines here have been abandoned for many years and are a mix of unique varieties (I personally see opportunity in that). That said, the current red is a worthy contender that shows a bit of a warmer climate influence while maintaining wonderful balance. Frankly, it’s a pleasure to taste. As of 2019 (the vintage I tasted for this report), fermentation was completed using around 30% whole-cluster fruit, with results that were appealing enough to increase that percentage to 50% in 2020. The wine is refined in a 50/50 combination of concrete and ten-hectoliter oak barrels. At this point in time, all wines are being made at the Graci winery, while the construction of the new cellar is being completed near the Belpasso vineyard.