Ayunta Calderera Sottana Rosso

The Wine

This wine is as chiseled as the volcanic slopes it springs from on the North side of Sicily's Mt Etna.

On the nose, it strikes first with dusty cherry and dried rose petals. There’s a haunting whisper of blood orange and iron - a minerality not just tasted, but felt. The palate is taut and nervy, like sinew under tension. Bright cranberry and sour plum are comfortably carried by a frame of firm acidity, followed by hints of rooibos tea and crushed herbs. There’s an elegance here that doesn’t announce itself but reveals itself slowly, a wine that communicates as much by its gestures as its words - much like its creator, Filippo Mangione (images!).

Tannins are fine-grained and persistent, reminiscent of wet stone and time-worn leather. The finish lingers with an earthy echo—black lava rock, fennel seed, and the memory of smoke.

Pairing Suggestions: Aged pecorino or charred eggplant caponata. Ideally enjoyed after a late afternoon hike up Monte Etna, shoes dusty, appetite earned.

The Winery

Filippo Mangione came to the wine world from another career and made the switch when he fell in love with the vines in a vineyard in Etna owned by an old man who became his mentor. Filippo began by volunteering in the vineyard and ended up buying it from him, as the former owner had no heirs. Coming into an area like Etna, where the growers and producers are skeptical of outsiders, and, one might say, a bit closed off from them, found Filippo's sincere love of the land and infectious enthusiasm impossible to resist. He now counts many of his fellow producers as advisors and is honored to serve in the same capacity for many of them.

Filippo boot-strapped the development of the old Palmento, which looks more like a jigsaw puzzle than a production facility, always buying the best he could afford. He runs his small vineyard (~7acres but growing) of old vines (50 - 100 years old) planted in Etna's famed volcanic soils at about 2,100 feet of elevation. He defines his natural/sustainable approach as 'only grapes + time - we release our wines only once ready.'