OUTIS ETNA ROSSO DOC

Nerello Mascalese 80%, Nerello Cappuccio 20%

A light-medium red Pinot-like colour in the glass. Shows aromas of red and black fruits, with balsamic hints. Medium weight on the palate but very flavourful, with a long finish and excellent balance. This wine has far more weight and complexity than you'd expect from the relatively pale colour.

A great match for grilled meats and hearty pasta dishes.

Etna. Comune di Trecastagni - Contrada Ronzini (18km from Catania). 640 metres above sea level. East facing, volcanic/sandy soil rich in minerals with low acidity.

Harvest Mid October. 11 day maceration, controlled low temperature fermentation in stainless steel with selected yeasts. The wine ages for 10 months in a combination of stainless steel and neutral barrels. No fining or filtering

Ciro Biondi’s family has owned vineyards and made wines successfully in this area since at least 1800 but towards the end of the second World War, the winery experienced a period of decline after the premature death of Salvatore (Ciro’s great uncle), the unsuccessful readjustment to modern technology and the new post-war market. After the winery was abandoned for many years, in 1999 Ciro and his wife Stef succeeded in restoring the 6 hectares owned by his family, leading to the production of high quality wines, whilst rediscovering the huge potential of the volcanic ‘terroir’ and its grape varietals.

Ciro’s entry-level Etna Rosso is called ‘Outis’. This is not a vineyard name, but rather a clever allusion to the mythos of Sicily. In Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew are at one-point ship-wrecked on an island inhabited by cyclops. The crew is captured by one of these creatures, and in order to free them, Odysseus blinds the cyclops in his sleep. While stumbling around blind, the Cyclops asks, “who his attacker was?”. Odyssey replied, “Outis,” which translates to ‘no one’. As the blind cyclops tried to convince his cohort that he was blinded by ‘Outis’, Odyssey and his crew were able to escape the island, which is thought to have been Sicily.