Planeta Eruzione 1614 Nerello Mascalese Terre Siciliane I.G.T.

Planeta Eruzione 1614 Nerello Mascalese Sicilia DOC 2019

The history of the volcano is punctuated by eruptions that have shaped its shape. Legendary was the one in 1614, which lasted a full 10 years, the longest in historical times: the vines that produce this wine grow on this very casting. Nerello Mascalese grown on black soils at altitude, for a red that is intense in its aromas and elegant in its structure.

SOIL IPO: Soils with perfect exposure and bedding, black from lava sands and therefore extraordinarily rich in minerals with abundant, large structure; around, forests and more recent lava flows. ALTIMETRY: 840-860 meters above sea level.

YIELD PER HECTARE: 68 quintals.
GROWTH SYSTEM: espalier with spurred cordon and double spurred cordon pruning system.
PLANTING DENSITY: 5,050 plants per hectare CULTIVATION METHOD: according to organic farming criteria and the SOStain® protocol; grassed soils with wild flora to increase organic matter, promoting the vitality of soil microfauna; pest defense with sulfur and copper in minimal amounts; pest control with beneficial insects, sexual confusion and application of natural corroborants such as zeolite, kaolin and plant extracts.
TIME OF HARVEST: October 22-23. WINE-MAKING: The grapes, harvested in crates of about 16 to 17 kg, were immediately chilled to 10 °C temperature, then hand-selected. After destemming, they fermented up to 25-26 °C in steel tanks and fermenters and remained on the skins from 21 to 35 days, with manual punching down and sometimes brief pumping over, often with the tanks filled just at the end of alcoholic fermentation. They were then racked into

soft way by vertical press, to continue with malolactic fermentation in steel.
AGING: in 25 hl and 36 hl oak barrels for 12 months.

PACKING: July 2021. ALCOHOL GRATION: 13.7 percent vol. TOTAL ACIDITY: 5 g/l
PH: 3.63

AGEING CAPACITY: 7 to 10 years.
CAP: one-piece natural cork.

ORGANOLEPTIC NOTES: This wine draws its flavor strength and extraordinary aromas of herbal incense, hibiscus and wild fennel from the lava sands. A luminous and lyrical wine, it tells without filter the character and refinement of great mountain reds, but at latitudes close to Africa. Tannins of firm fabric are elegantly extracted. The sweetness and bounty of berries and currants mingles with scents of incense and beeswax, a slight almost saline touch invites a return to the glass.

PAIRING: A wine whose character can allow for very bold pairings with dishes of equal character. Game, truffle dishes, rockfish also with complex sauces, cheeses and cured meats.

VINTAGE NOTES – ETNA 2019

A brief description from the weather leading up to the 2019 harvest.
In general, we had had an extraordinarily wet autumn, which had replenished the water reserves of the soils and, to some extent “cooled” the soils. The winter had been quite mild, however, spring lingered with quite low temperatures, especially in May.
This combination-cold soils, cold spring after a mild winter-resulted in an exceptionally late start to the harvest throughout Sicily, except on Etna.
The month of August had ideal weather, rainless and not hot, though with some humidity. Early September qu eparing them as best as possible and catching up with the rest of Sicily, thanks to the absence of major rains and the ideal September temperature. In late September and October, when harvesting had been completed in the rest of the island, we faced a harvest on Etna that was as smooth as it was extraordinary.
Here the crucial month for grape quality is August, when in the final stage of berry growth one hopes for clement weather free of extremes of both heat and rain. Exactly this happened in 2019!
So a very good August preparation and then a September, maybe a little too dry but still good.
The only non-positive note of the 2019 harvest is on quantity: fewer grapes than in recent vintages, including smaller bunches. So very concentrated reds, not of alcohol but of color and aroma, which evolve extraordinarily well. A vintage for winemakers!