M�rke: Passopisciaro

Format : 0.75

Gradering : gradazione 14%

PASSOROSSO 2014

The 2014 vintage presented us with a lightning-quick harvest. After four months of dry heat, a single stormy night in late October brought in the cold. Starting on the 23rd, the moon was waxing, the season closing; the grapes tasted different every morning, and we harvested them in vineyards at all altitudes, as they become suddenly ripe. The last on the mountain with grapes on the vines, we harvested large areas very quickly as we realized that the hot summer had managed to ripen whole vineyards quite evenly. By the 2nd of November, the moon waxed hard enough and drew even the vines living in the coldest corners to perfect ripeness.

There is this languid quality in the wines of 2014. In them, there is a massive quality, full-bodied with powerful aromas that hover just above the surface of the wine, instead of leaping out of the glass. It’s apparent that the wine is dense, yet soft; it has the aroma of sandalwood, and each month it shows the same grand, free quality, which seems to defy the laws of gravity. The perfume of sandalwood in the 2014 vintage softens the more typical aromas of citrus fruits and camphor, typical of the lavas of Etna.

Vineyard age: 70-100 years

Vineyard density: 8,000 vines/Ha

Vineyard altitude: 500-1,100 m asl

Yield per hectare: 42 Hl/Ha

Fertilization: None

Spraying: Propolis, sulphur, copper, vitamin C

Harvest: 24 October – 2 November in the contradas of Arcuria, Chiappemacine, Favazza, Guardiola, Feudo di Mezzo, and Sciaranuova

Vinification: Alcoholic fermentation for 15 days in steel vats

Aging: Malolactic fermentation, aging in 18 months in large oak barrels

Bottling: Waning moon of April 2016

Production: 36,800 bottles