by Treve Ring | Though Planeta Winery was only established in 1995, the Planeta family has been making wine on Sicily since the 16th century, handing down trade secrets through 17 generations. Now there are 6 separate wineries on the southern Italian isle, each specializing in the wines of the area in which they’re built and matching the diverse Sicilian soils with indigenous and global grapes.

One such native grape is nerello mascalese, a red grape that thrives on the volcanic soils and slopes of active Mount Etna. These lighter, fresh red wines carry a vein of minerality throughout, and tasted blind come across like the love child of Burgundy and Barolo – deceptively light in hue but deep in intensity, with delicate and savoury red fruits and fragrant florals, reined in with stony firmness.

photos by John Szabo

This finessed nerello mascalese – Planeta Etna Rosso 2013 ($30) – takes you right to Sicily and the unique volcanic terroir and altitude of Etna. The wine sees 18 days of skin contact before resting in used barriques for six months. Perfumed, wild raspberries, herbal anise and cherry aromas entice. The medium bodied red is lifted with bright acidity, carrying perfumed violets, cherry, raspberry and bittersweet cocoa across fine grained, gritty tannins. Minerality seems omnipresent through to the lingering violet-scented, grippy finish. Truffles, salty aged cheese and charcuterie will pair now, as will a slice of your choicest margherita pizza. Or forget about it for for 3-5 years in your cellar and be rewarded.

EVERY AWESOME THING WE DRANK