Had I been writing 50, even 20 years ago about Nerello Mascalese – the Sicilian grape variety believed to have originated on the plain of Mascali, between Mount Etna’s eastern slope and the coast – this story would have been simple: an unfussy, high-yielding grape that ripens reliably and embraces Sicily’s oppressive heat.
Its thin skin makes a bright red wine with good acidity and limited tannins. Grown around Mt Etna, the vast majority of Nerello Mascalese – with its serviceable amount of alcohol and body – was transported as must [the freshly pressed, unfermented juice of grapes with all the accompanying solids] in bulk down the mountain on a dedicated train track that delivers it to the port of Riposto.
Whereupon, it was shipped, mostly to France and the Italian mainland, stripped of its identity and used to beef up generic red wine blends.
But today, Nerello Mascalese is taken seriously as a standalone variety and the story has become far less straightforward.
Scroll down for six Nerello Mascalese…
Source : https://www.decanter.com/premium/searching-for-the-soul-of-nerello-mascalese-541918/
