A bold and characterful label for a bold and characterful wine! Made from Sicily's native Narello Mascalese grown on Mount Etna's unique volcanic soil this is a special with a unique personality all it's own.
Expect intense ruby red in colour with good consistency, the nose reveals a complex and enveloping bouquet, with hints of ripe wild berries, spices and a delicate hint of vanilla resulting from the long ageing in oak. In the mouth, it is warm, soft and fresh, with velvety, well-ripened tannins and vibrant energy that balances it's bold dark fruit flavours.
Etna DOC O‘ Scuru O’ Scuru di Al-Cantàra comes from estate vineyards located 620 metres above sea level. Black soils, rich in minerals, the result of millennial eruptions of Europe's highest active volcano. This terroir gives the wines a solid structure, a vibrant freshness and a distinct mineral flavour.
The base is Nerello Mascalese, a native Sicilian grape that has been perfectly adapted to Etna's volcanic soils for centuries. In this case, the grapes come from very old vineyards, over 80 years old. These ancient vines, thanks to their deep roots, give the wine complexity and depth. For its part, the Nerello is distinguished by its ability to express elegance and power, with silky tannins and an extraordinary capacity for ageing. After vinification, this red rests for 12 months in stainless steel tanks. Subsequently, the wine is transferred to large French oak barrels, where it matures for a further 12 months, acquiring structure and aromatic complexity. Finally, after bottling, the wine rests a further 12 months in the bottle, so that it can achieve the perfect balance between all its components. This long refinement, and the fabulous raw material, makes O' Scuru a long-lived wine, capable of evolving over time.
The Details:
Grape: Narello Mascalese
Country: Italy
Region: Sicily (Etna DOC)
Abv: 14%
Style: Bramble fruit, medium body, spice/herbs, oak aged, ageworthy
The Producer:
Al-Cantàra was born from the happy intuition that a good wine is ‘poetry’ and to make it you need ‘art’ - as you can read on the winery's website. It is no coincidence that all the wines produced bear the names of poems by Sicilian authors and the labels reproduce the works of two young painters from Catania. We are in the heart of Sicily. In a corner of paradise located exactly in contrada Feudo S. Anastasia in the municipality of Randazzo, 620 metres above sea level. The summit of Mount Etna, not far away, watches over the vineyards and the winery from above. The name Al-Cantàra comes from the river that flows at the foot of the volcano. Although young, the winery was officially opened in 2005, it has already established itself nationally and internationally thanks to the high quality of its wines, which have won awards from food and wine critics. Today the company has a total of 20 hectares of land, of which about 15 hectares are planted with vines. And of these, about 4 are historical, over 60 years old, with 1,000 pre-harvest vines. The overall production, mostly under the DOC Etna umbrella, is around 100 thousand bottles per year. Once again, tradition and innovation go hand in hand under the blue sky of Sicily.
