Description
Emanuele Scammacca Barone del Murgo enjoyed a long, important career as a diplomat, serving as Italian Ambassador to Brussels and Moscow, as well as Assistant Secretary of the Estate of Foreign Affairs for Italy. His family had been cultivating olives and making wine on the slopes of Mount Etna—Sicily's still active volcano—since 1850. While production was originally intended for local consumption only (mainly friends and family), in 1981, Emanuele got more serious about the wine business. Well aware of the family estate’s excellent terroir (comprised exclusively decomposed lava), and with the help of his eight sons, he set out to transform the ancient property into a modern wine estate. They initially focused their efforts on Nerello Mascalese—an indigenous Sicilian grape varietal that thrives in the island’s high-altitude vineyards and pure volcanic soils.
Murgo bottled their first Etna Rosso in 1982 and their first brut in 1990, followed soon after by a brut Rosé. The most recent bottling of which, we were thrilled to feature in our Sparkling club. Today, the estate produces over a dozen different wines from their 60 acres of sustainably farmed, terraced vines that sit at altitudes between 1600–2000 feet above sea level. The Murgo family cares for its vines as naturally as possible, and harvest is always by hand.
This 2021 brut is 100% Nerello Mascalese that receives its pale antique pink color from a direct pressing of the skins before it is fermented in a stainless steel tank for 8 months. Following the ‘Metodo Classico’ or ‘Méthode Champenoise’, the wine undergoes secondary fermentation in bottle and is aged for 3 years before it is disgorged with a dosage of less than 5g/L. In Champagne standards, this wine would be considered ‘Extra Brut’ or drier than a ‘Brut’, yet it is not lacking in aromatics or personality whatsoever! The nose is quite expressive with notes of wild strawberry and yellow cherry, suggesting that the wine might be a fruity style. However, considering the fruit was sourced from Mt. Etna’s volcanic soil, it’s not surprising to find more austere flavors on the palate including wet limestone, chalk, underripe strawberry and white pepper. Fairly light in body, the acidity is bracing and cleansing, leaving only a pristine mineral note on the finish.
