Famiglia Statella Etna Rosso ‘Pettinociarelle’ 2018

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Wine name: Etna Rosso DOC Pettinociarelle

Appellation: ETNA ROSSO DOC

Zone: Pettinociarelle district (Solicchiata, Castiglione di Sicilia, province of Catania)

Vineyard extension (hectares): 1

Blend: 90% Nerello Mascalese 10% Nerello Cappuccio

Vineyard age (year of planting): Nerello Cappuccio 2005 Nerello Mascalese 2005

Soil Type: Volcanic

Exposure: North

Altitude: 765 meters above sea level

Average no. bottles/year: 4,500

Grape yield per hectare tons: 4-5

Drinking it!

🌡Temp: 16-18°C. We tend to drink reds an edge warm. There’s nothing wrong with chucking the bottles in the fridge for 15minutes to drop a few degrees off them. If they end up too cold they’ll warm up quickly in the glass.

🍷Decanting: The élévage is excellent, the wine is well and truly through puberty and into adulthood. Decanting is not essential, looking at the wines in glass over many hours will be rewarding.

🍚🍝🐓🐖🥩🧀 Food: Rice and pasta dishes with meat or vegetables, white and red grilled meat, medium seasoned cheese

🕯Cellaring: The wines are drinking so beautifully now it will be hard to hold off, we’re all going to be experimenting a bit to work out the drinking windows, so if you get some, please share with the community how they’re looking when you crack a bottle!

About Statella

Calogero Statella has been the oenologist of Tenuta delle Terre Nere since 2008, there’s some street cred! Cal established himself as a brilliant student at the prestigious enology school in San Michele all’Adige, and then went on to the University of Milan to study viticulture. Under the tutelage of Attilio Scienza, the head of the department and the foremost expert on viticulture, Cal wrote his thesis and graduated at the top of his class in 2001. The Italian wine giant Mezzacorona immediately plucked up Cal after graduation—but that wasn’t before he had spent a harvest working for a man who became one of his closest friends and confidants, Elio Altare. It was his internship with Altare in 2000 that introduced Cal to not only Marco de Grazia, for whom he would eventually work, but also to his next great passion: the wines and vignerons of the Cote d’Or, where he travels at least once a year to taste and meet with winemaking friends.  In 2007, after working for Mezzacorona to oversee their Sicilian operation, Feudo Arancio (production of 20 million bottles per year!), Cal left to work for Marco at Terre Nere. A happier marriage has never been seen! With Cal’s help, the already high quality of Terre Nere went soaring, and after nearly a decade of crafting wines with Marco de Grazia, Calogero was able to realize his dream of having his own vineyard.

In 2016 he purchased, together with his wife Rita, a vineyard on Mount Etna located in the Pettinociarelle district (Sollicchiata, commune of Castiglione di Sicilia). Pettinociarelle is a district that was very famous in the past for wine, as the soils (that are poor) gave a low grape yield, but the wines from these grapes were of very high quality. Nowadays the vineyard of Calogero and Rita is one of the few vineyards that are still productive. After the second World War many farmers had to abandon these vineyards as vines were planted in areas that ensured a higher production. Many vineyards were gradually converted into olive groves.

2016 was the first vintage of their excellent Etna Rosso DOC. The grapes are vinified at the cellar of Tenuta delle Terre Nere.

“The Etna: a land where we were both born. In this unique area for viticulture, the traditional artisanal approach to wine making is the only way to express the genotype-environment interaction in the best possible way through a deep knowledge of the terroir of the Mount Etna and of its grape varieties. The aim is to make wines of an extremely high quality and that express a strong character of the area. Our estate and our wine stem from this idea.” Calogero Statella

In the Vineyard

Pettinocciarelle is located in the Solicchiata township at 765 meters above sea level with a soil that is often compared to the Guardiola cru: it’s quite sandy, so the aromatics of Cal’s wines are really off the charts. The vines are 15 years old, and have always been farmed organically, so from the very first vintage the wine carries the label “MADE WITH ORGANIC GRAPES.”

In the Winery

Traditional red vinification with punching down of the cap. Maceration with the skins for 10-15 days. The wine matures in French oak tonneaux of second and third use for 10 months.

Where in the World is Famiglia Statella?

I thought I’d share these three maps to help you get your head around Etna and it’s place in Sicily. The first map gives you the big picture. The second highlights the general area planted on Etna, mostly South to South-East facing. The third shows most, but, not all of the Contrada (single vineyards) and their relative elevations.