Benanti is often given credit for putting Mount Etna on the world’s wine map. Its iconic wine Pietra Marina (first produced in the late 1980s) is considered by some sommeliers as one of Italy’s best white wines.
The tasting line-up in full with a map showing all the contrada of Etna
The Etna DOC appellation in Sicily is a sickle-shaped area hugging the active volcano’s lower regions. Benanti stands out as the only company to own vineyards in five different locations on all four slopes. To the north, Benanti produces reds, to the east whites, and in the south, both.
The region is geographically diverse. There are 133 contrada (single vineyards) each with specific characteristics including aspect, diurnal range, elevation, soil type, luminosity, rainfall, ventilation and maritime influence.
The Etna DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) was created in 1968 and Benanti are now applying for the higher DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) status. Applications can be a notoriously lengthy business, but Benanti hope it may be granted in the next year or so.
Guiseppe Benanti originally set up a professional winery in 1988. The initial leap forward was to use overlooked indigenous varieties: Nerello Mascalese and Carricante. Today Giuseppe’s twin sons, Antonio and Salvino, continue the quest to extract the full potential of Etna’s terroir, producing 250,000 bottles a year with 55% of sales to the US and the UK market, doubling over the last two years.
We start by tasting whites from the epicentre of the Etna’s best Carricante vineyards, located around the town of Milo, on the eastern slope.
Etna's fiery theme was consistent throughout the meal
Our first course very fittingly gives us a real taste of fire – oysters prepared ‘Flambadou’ style: cooked by beef fat heated and flaming in an open fire, drizzled over.
Contrada Rinazzo Etna Bianco Superiore DOC 2022
Contrada Rinazzo faces the Ionian Sea and it can be snowy in winter. The nose is intense with hints of orange blossom and ripe apple. It is dry, mineral with a pleasing aftertaste of anise and almond.RRP £45.
Pietra Marina Etna Bianco Superiore DOC 2019
This iconic wine, made solely from Carricante, also from Contrade Rinazzo has outstanding crisp elegance. The vines are head-trained, short-pruned bushes (“alberello”), reaching over 90 years of age in some cases. Fermentation takes place for about 12 days at a controlled temperature in a stainless steel vat, with the aid of Benanti’s own Carricante-specific indigenous yeast, which was selected from local vineyards through years of research and experimentation in the cellar. The wine matures in a stainless steel vat on the fine lees for about 30 months, with frequent bâtonnages, and then refines in the bottle for 12 months.
The palate is dry and mineral with high acidity and saline notes. The floral and refreshingly lemony characteristics are augmented as the wine ages. It ages spectacularly well. RRP £100.
We then move on to the reds. These are paired with juniper-smoked veal tartare and hay-smoked pork loin from the Contrada Monte Serra on the south-eastern flank of Etna.
Contrada Monte Serra Etna Rosso DOC 2021 (magnum)
This contrada is on an extinct volcanic cone on a southeast slope and wine is made from the indigenous Nerello Mascalese grapes from vines 14 to 100 years-old. With lofty aromas of red fruits and spices, it is dry and medium- to full-bodied, with smoother tannins, and a persistent, harmonious finish. RRP (single bottle) £39.
Serra Della Contessa Particella No. 587 Etna Rosso Riserva 2017
This is the result of focusing exclusively on the small, pre-phylloxera portion of the vineyard and extending the wine’s vinification, maturation and refining period to 60 months and produced in a very limited quantity. Nerello Mascalese (c.85%) and Nerello Cappuccio (c.15%) are co-planted.The colour is ruby with light tints of garnet with an aroma of wild berries, spices and noble wood. The palate is full, elegant, mineral, significantly persistent and reasonably tannic. RRP £100.
Rovittello Particella No. 341 Etna Rosso Riserva 2017 (magnum)
This exclusive Benanti icon is produced in the same vineyard as the Contrada Dafara Galluzzo on Etna’s northern slope, but in a very limited quantity. After malolactic fermentation in stainless steel, maturation occurs in large barrels of French oak (15hl) for about 24 months. The refining period in the bottle is 12 months. Nerello Mascalese (c.90%) and Nerello Cappuccio (c.10%). The colour is pale ruby and the wine’s ageing produces dry, intense tannins and hints of wood on the palate. RRP (single bottle) £100.
That menu in full
The future – no smoke without fire?
In recent years the world has certainly discovered Etna’s wines and the tasting confirmed Benanti’s volcanic wines’ remarkable elegance and finesse. Salvino Benanti predicts that there will be a consolidation of the current patchwork of over 400 producers scattered around Etna. “We need people to understand the Etna wine and its special terroir – to understand the wines, the premium Contrada or Riserva. We don’t need hundreds of confusing vineyards and labels.”
The UK importer for Benanti Wines is Woodwinters.com
