Etna wines
Mandrarossa is a Brand that innovates without borders, for this reason it decided to pursue the project that started in its homeland in 2018, researching other territories to be explored and to represent their true essence through wine. This led to the journey that will culminate in 2020 with the launch of the Mandrarossa Etna wines, single varieties Nerello Mascalese and Carricante, products of the volcanic soil.
The territory
Sicily has fascinating corners, magnificent glimpses and jaw-dropping landscapes. There is a unique territory that has beauty and excitement within located on the north-eastern side of the island, this territory is Etna. The craters, ashes, caves and Bove valley, gardens, vineyards and forests make the volcano’s territories a fascinating place, an environmental mosaic of rare beauty. This is the territory that Mandrarossa has decided to explore, going beyond its borders, to produce new wines from native varieties that tell new stories. At the foot of the Etna volcano, which majestically rises above its vineyards to protect them with its fertile volcanic soil and unique microclimate, has allowed populations to thrive with agriculture and livestock, and with the promotion of viticulture and wine production since ancient times. Today, wine has redesigned the landscape: the volcanic soils, the temperature excursions, the wind, the ancient vineyards surrounded by the dry-stone walls, cause unique and once in a lifetime emotion.
The grapes and Etna wines
The volcano’s evocative power is a reminder of the ancestral power of nature.
The volcanic activity is like a plow that mixes the layers of land, bringing to the surface organic materials that have an impact on the cultivations, and the vines have deep roots and a unique relationship with history. It’s as if the magma comes out of the volcano exploding into a wine glass, in which the wines express minerality, harmony, energy and longevity. On Etna there are two cultivars that most represent the territory’s wine-producing predisposition: Carricante and Nerello Masacalese. The new Etna wines by Mandrarossa are produced from these grapes that have a bold character, from the black soil where the Carricante variety results in an energetic, elegant and surprisingly fresh white; while the Nerello Mascalese variety gives us a vigorous, gritty and warm wine. Sentiero delle Gerle (pack basket trail) is their name, inextricably tied to the place from which they are produced, in the territory of Linguaglossa, and to an ancient tale of women, the real keepers of the vineyard.
The rediscovered story
At the foot of the volcano.
Traditionally the women would oversee the vineyards at the foot of the volcano. Strong women would take care of the vines with motherly love. Each day they would work on the strip of black land that faces Etna. They would bring their pack baskets and wear red aprons and blue handkerchiefs on their heads, heading down the valley in small groups, along the trail that dug a groove in those volcanic lands like a smile.
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Sentiero delle gerle Etna Bianco DOC
«As they went down into to the fields, they would stop to gaze at the beauty of the valley dotted by the red aprons and the pale gold grapes. At the end of September, when “u Carricanti” filled the air with the scent of orange blossom, they would stay to listen to the other women sing during the harvest, and dance during their breaks, making the harvest a celebration.»
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Sentiero delle gerle Etna Rosso DOC
«At sunset, when “u Neriddu Mascalisi” was brought in baskets to the carts for pressing, the women would stop at the top of the trail to watch their colleagues at work, shining in their red aprons in the wind. They would watch them with pride, after sharing the experience of having picked those blue bunches, elongated and juicy, with an aroma of spices and Scotch broom and that unique Sicilian character, just like them.»
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