Passopisciaro Contrada ‘PC’ Chardonnay 2021

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

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This wine is the fruit of the experience we’ve accumulated over the years in understanding our various parcels of Chardonnay.

Year after year, implementing precision viticulture where varying maturation levels were tracked separately, we began to separate the primary material in various phases of harvest and vinification, even within the same parcel. Our Contrada PC is the result and the clear demonstration of how, even with the same variety and position, Etna provides a range of unique and diverse expressions from angle to angle. Contrada PC comes from a minute parcel of Chardonnay planted on small and laborious terraces between 870 and 950 meters, where the production is naturally limited and the maturation very particular and complex.

A late ripening year on Mt. Etna as well, the vintage was characterized by a decidedly cold spring during April and May, with a light frost over May 6-7. This persistent cold weather continued until the end of May without interruption, causing a significant delay in flowering, which itself continued until the middle of June.

June finally brought a gradual and constant increase in temperatures, with the chardonnay flowering first on the 13th, with subsequent fruit set, sparser this year. Then, toward the end of the month, we began to have incredibly high temperatures, peaking near 40 degrees Celsius (almost 104 degrees Fahrenheit); these heat spikes lasted until the end of September, allowing the vines to recuperate some of the time lost by the cold spring. This allowed us to begin thinning the berries at the start of August.

The Chardonnay harvest began later this year, on September 17th, and entering into October, we had an important jump in phenolic ripeness in the red berries thanks to a dramatic period in the diurnal cycle that occurred at the same time as the first quarter moon. This vintage brought about sinuous wines that are not too high in alcohol, with the right equilibrium between fresh fruit and vertical acidity, characteristics due to this final period of physiological maturity at the end of the winding growing season. A year of excellent quality since the rains spared us their odious inference.

About Passopisciaro

Read all about our extensive tastings of Passopisciaro wines in our Wine Bites Mag article “Passopisciaro the Jurasic Park of Wine! Ancient Vines Revived to Create the Liquid Essence of Etna!”

The article includes a look at all the Contrade from both 2012 and 2013.

Explore Etna with our primer “Getting Your Head Around Sicily’s Mount Etna”

Listen 🎧to Andrea Franchetti’s Podcast with Levi Dalton

Passopisciaro is at once both a fossil and a piece of modern art! Vines aged from 70-120 years old grow on the slopes of a volcano at altitudes that make noses bleed. Less than 20 years ago these wines were unknown, the Grandfathers of today’s revolutionists made simple wine from overcropped vineyards.

Today the next generations are pushing the boundaries making wines from 100% Nerello Mascalese. Often referred to as a hybrid of the great Nebbiolo’s from Barolo and Pinot Noir’s from Burgundy, Nerello Mascalese is capable of making wines with real personality! They’ve taken something incredibly ancient, gone back to the DNA and started again. In under a decade the evolution of these wines have accelerated through a millennia.

Vines have been nurtured back to balance, tended by hand on terraced vineyards that one in every  3 years find themselves under ash clouds hurled into the sky from the very mountain they are planted on, a volcano, Mt Etna!

The 2021 Vintage at Passopisciaro

The selection of 2021s from Passopisciaro is atypical of the vintage in the best possible way. Winemaker Vincenzo Lo Mauro did a fantastic job of dealing with the arid warmth of the year and turning out a selection of well-balanced, fruit-centric yet structured wines. In 2021, Etna had to contend with four months of drought and hot temperatures. This resulted in an early harvest for Chardonnay around the last week of August. If anything, the whites suffered more than the reds, with a 40% loss in production. However, for the PassoRosso and Contrada wines, cool fall temperatures and a late harvest helped balance the fruit. The tannins, while more pronounced in the vintage, are beautifully integrated, and each of the Contrade does a fantastic job of communicating terroir. In some cases, I found the 2021s to outperform the 2020s at the same stage while giving the sense that they will evolve very positively. In the end, the 2021s are not to be missed, and the team of Passopisciaro is doing a superb job honoring Andrea Franchetti’s memory and style.

Eric Guido, Vinous

Where in the World is Passopisciaro?

Passopisciaro is located in the village of Passopisciaro with the Cantina in Contrada Guardiola on the northern slopes of Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy.