Volcanic wines

It is on the slopes of Europe's most imposing volcano that, in recent years, Sicily's most futuristic and popular wine-growing has been concentrated. Lava flows, pre-phylloxera vines and terraces up to 1000 metres above sea level are the frame of a landscape dominated by the purely volcanic soils of this wonderful terroir, rich in mineral salts and exposed to an exceptional day/night temperature range. Elegance and saline minerality are in fact the dominant characteristics of Etna wines, which some have compared, for the reds, to the finest and most subtle Pinot Noirs in the world. Etna remains, however, an area of great native grape varieties, with Nerello Mascalese, fresh and well-structured, with fragrant aromas, and Nerello Cappuccio.

Volcanic material, basalts, terraces, ungrafted saplings, craters and explosions at altitudes that reach 1000 metres: this is the scenario to which the black mascalese, king of Etna, is accustomed, and where it is the happiest. Native of the volcano, even if not necessarily originating heren, the nerello mascalese is counted among the best vines in the world as it gives a red wine clearly oriented towards elegance and not opulence and muscularity. Some liken it to pinot noir, but nerello mascalese, in addition, has a great ally: the volcano. And, obviously, vineyards of venerable age scattered in districts - especially along the northern side of Etna - which for exposure and altitude have few equals in the world. Naturally, it lends itself to important ageing both in large barrels and in barriques.

As a single variety as is usually found in the more aristocratic versions of Etna Rosso, it has a beautiful ruby colour, tending towards garnet, quite transparent, due to the presence of a modest quantity of polyphenols. The aromas are fine, with hints of red berry fruit and an interesting spicy note; the whole, on the palate, is supported by lively acidity, elegant tannins - very pungent in youth, especially from the "extreme" districts - and marked minerality, a product of the volcanic terroir. Sometimes, in the classic Etna Rosso, it is vinified in blends with nerello cappuccio, more accessible and round. It also performs well as a rosé, which is anything but sly, indeed it is biting for minerality and sapidity.

The carricante is the white grape typical of Etna that, between volcanic material and lava flows, has always been cultivated on the ancient terraces of the volcano at altitudes and exposures, especially along the south and east side, not suitable for the Mascalese red wines. It is here, on the eastern side, that the harsher climate and the considerable diurnal ranges give the wine intense perfumes and aromas. Once vinified in blends with other local white varieties, such as minnella and inzolia, today it generally competes as a single variety with Etna Bianco, revealing exceptional minerality, tension and longevity. The wine has a pale straw yellow colour. The bouquet is elegant, with delicate fragrances of orange blossom and white fruit, apple, citrus, aniseed. On the palate, it expresses a lashing acidity and a textured sapidity, clearly volcanic, with mineral returns of flint. The structure is never overwhelming, as a top-class mountain wine, it lends itself both to aging in steel only, to enhance freshness and fragrance, and to the movement to wood, if one prefers to privilege complexity and softness.

From the Castelli Romani, just south of the capital, to the Vulture massif in the highlands of Basilicata, the whole of central and southern Italy is one vast volcanic area. And a large part of this area is dedicated to viticulture.

The Frascati, with its splendid volcanic crus in the countryside of the Roman otium, is today among the greatest Italian whites, vertical, mineral, but also warm with its beautiful aromaticity of the native Malvasia Puntinata. And then the Cesanese. Once a rough cutting wine, today the great Frascati red excels both in its youthful rustic brio and in the deep complexity that it acquires over the years.

The secret of Campania's excellence, in addition to its history and numerous varieties, lies in the soils and climates. Few regions like this can boast so many volcanic areas: natural amphitheatres that, as we know, offer interesting wines for minerality and longevity. As for the climate, Campania comes out on top for diversification in this area too: in fact, we can appreciate the Mediterranean climate of the coast, that of the inland, almost alpine-like, with day/night temperature variations that are splendidly beneficial to the aromatic characteristics of the wines. Towards the Mediterranean coast, the falanghina finds its home in an important volcanic area: the Campi Flegrei. And here, of course, it becomes more subtle, tense, sometimes terse in its youth, of exuberant minerality. And this is perhaps the greatest falanghina, capable of some years of ageing in the bottle. The Campi Flegrei, an area of volcanic fumaroles around Pozzuoli, also offer another great native of Campania: the piedirosso. A grape of contained structure, good aromas which is easy to drink, and which along with the Aglianico is one of the most traditional grapes of the region.

Again among the whites, biancolella, native grape of the island of Ischia, has reached sublime levels. Especially in the heroic crus located in the south-western part of the island, the biancolella, cultivated on rocks of greenish mineral of volcanic origin, expresses an olfactory complexity and richness in extract now known internationally. From Naples to the Sorrento Peninsula, we meet the wines of Vesuvius. A naturally volcanic area, it produces both whites - in particular from coda di volpe grapes, simple but pleasant and with good acidity - and reds, from the typical blend of aglianico and piedirosso. The Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio, white or red, comes from the most selected vineyards, on which sometimes ancient ungrafted vines survive.

The testimonies of Horace, who was from Venosa, and Pliny, attest that already in ancient times the propulsive and qualitative centre of Lucanian viticulture was the northern part of the region, towards Vulture: a gigantic extinct volcano that hosts the most suitable area. Around Vulture, snow-covered in winter and with vines that reach over 600 meters above sea level, towns like Melfi, Rionero and Barile are considered the real crus of the local Aglianico. Aglianico is a difficult grape, here as in Irpinia, and is nervous and lively in its youth, but in the long aging it gives extraordinary sensations for structure, elegance, subtlety and class of tannin. The volcanic soils of this area, with tufaceous and clayey-calcareous inserts, are an incredibly perfect setting for the production of an Aglianico with a unique personality, perhaps the largest and most valued red in the South. At the same time, the ancient cellars of the Sheshë in Barile, excavated five centuries ago by the arbëreshë, are being recovered and can still be visited today with their fascinating black-lava-stone walls.