Passopisciaro Contrada ‘R’ Rampante Nerello Mascelese 2021

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

Check out all the 🌋Lava Juice!🍇

Contrada Rampante (Contrada R) is our highest cru at 1,000 m (3,330 ft) above sea level. At the highest confines of viticulture on the northern side of Etna, Rampante is ancient contrada, producing one of volcano’s finest, most aromatic wines because of the sandy character that the lava has acquired. Due to the altitude, it is typically the last contrada to ripen. We own and cultivate 1.4 hectares on this domain.

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.