Tornatore - Etna Rosso DOC “Trimarchisa” 2016

Tornatore - Etna Rosso DOC “Trimarchisa” 2016 (90+ TSW)

In May 2019 I visited this winery Tornatore in the Etna DOC wineregion during the Sicily en Primeur. We visited their vineyards and cellar and had a great lunch accompanied by their wines. Today one of their best wines which earned Tre Bicchieri in the Gambero Rosso.

Tornatore owns 60 hectares of land located in the Agro of Castiglione di Sicilia and another 40 directly held. Tornatore have recently developed the single largest vineyard in the ETNA DOC area. Covering 30 hectares using abandoned ground recovered from one of the volcanoes many historic lava flows.

Their new cellar, which is now located under the estate house, opened its doors for the first time only 5 years ago. It’s equipped with the best of modern wine-making technology including tulip-form cement fermentation tanks and a climate controlled barrel cellar resplendent with new large oak barrels of varying sizes.

Back to the wine:

Nerello Mascalese and a splash of Nerello Cappuccio. Destemmed and not completely crushed, they are sent to truncated conical wooden vats, where they macerate for about 10/12 days at a temperature
of 22/25 ° C. Daily, several times a day, to the grapes in maceration are carried out by manual punching down with the help of a pneumatic fuller. After fermentation the grapes remain to macerate for a few more days after which they are drawn off and pressed with a vertical press of the traditional type. The wine thus obtained rests in barrels of 25 hl, 18 months before to be bottled.

My tasting notes:

In the glass a bright ruby red color.
On the medium(+) nose aromas of cherries, raspberries and flowers with hints of vanilla, earth, cedar and liquorice.
On the palate dry, medium(+) bodied with medium(+) acidity and tannins. Fresh and soft in the mouth with a good concentration of the fruit accompanied with flavours of tobacco, cedar abd smoke. Nice medium(+) beautiful length fresh finish.

Available at @vinetiq @pallaswines