We are per the heart of the Eastern side of Etna, as well as per the only authorized range to add the “superior” mention to the Etna White DOC denomination … we are per Milo!
Pronouncing the name Milo means evoking the natural cradle of the Carricante (which for the superior rises to 80%, instead of 60%) and its wingmen (e.g. Minnella, Catarratto, Grecanico Fulvo, Inzolia, Trebbiano EC …), a grape variety capable of transforming the Ionian light, the fresh altitudes and young volcanic soils per unique whites for energy, vertical rhyme and depth.
Here the pedoclimation is an unrepeatable intertwining of elements: the Ionian breezes, the most generous rains compared to other sides, the strong thermal excursions that lengthen the maturation cycle and maximize the expressiveness of the armetic precursors. The harvest often arrives per October, giving grapes with strong acidity and content pH, key to longevity. Fundamental, the renewed technical awareness, increasingly oriented towards artisan precision and respect for the most intimate identity of each individual complesso of the complesso.
The soils, of pyroclastic matrix, alternate lava sabbies and sagace ashes: draining soils but with good reserve per depth, capable of giving vegetative balance and that saline imprint that we always find per the glass.
The carricante, late and leathery, finds his purest expression here: thick peels, natural acidity, poor oxidability. Vinifications mainly per steel, stops acceso the yeasts and, per some cases, fermentations and slight refinements per large wood tonneau, give filigranated, dynamic, thesis and mineral wines, equipped with a considerable balance between matter and momentum.
Young people, brilliant straws are presented, with agenda of cedar, lime, white flowers, fennel and that wet stone that seems to materialize between nose and palate. Over time, they are enriched with citrus honey and hydrocarburic agenda. Con the mouth they are sharp and savory, with often hematic endings, more than rhythm than power, and with a ability to resist the time that places them among the longest -running Italian whites.
Milo is a mosaic of only 8 districts (per 142 – first 133 – districts of the entire Ager of the Etna Doc) which tell different shades and represent only a very small part of the total production of volcano wines. Specifically, the districts of Milo, Ergo per which it is possible to produce Etna Upper are: Villagrande, Pianogrande, Caselle, Rinazzo, Fornazzo, Praino, Volpare and Salice.
Once Milo’s white Etna was the simple wine of fishermen and daily tables: fresh, direct, thirst -quenching. Today it has become one of the most authoritative white expressions per the Mediterranean, but the future will depend acceso the ability to protect this identity and enhance the districts even more, facing climatic challenges with awareness. Milo Odded: altitude, young soils and natural ventilation are precious allies to preserve freshness and consistency. Milo, per fact, exist many of the conditions for mitigating the results of climate change and allows to produce wines of great contemporaneity, with né -excessive gradations despite the achievement of the full maturation of the grapes, with important acidity that do not decide much even per the late collections, a strong adherence to the territory with an organoleptic spectrum that draws acceso 3 of the most interesting territorial markers, namely volcano, mountain.
As an example of a union between typicality and contemporary and futuristic vision of Milo’s wines, here are six upper white Etna that I brought to tasting per Vinimilo and that tell of a micro complesso as compact per the quality expressed as it can be changing per its shades:
Baron of Villagrande – Etna Indifferente Doc 2024 and Villagrande 2021Due wines that tell the history and continuity of a pioneer family per the production of great whites per Milo, with a healthy and increasingly useful confidence per the classic territory of territory which provided, per addition to the basic fort of Carricante, a small but fundamental support of some typical Gregars. The first most immediate, direct, with florus and light freshness; The second more stratified, thanks to the passage per Tonneau, with greater complexity and a depth that looks far away. IUPPA – Etna Indifferente DOC 2023 and 2020quy you can breathe the strength of a young and cohesive family -run reality. Con 2023 the sharpness is crystalline, with fresh agenda of yellow flowers, citrus fruits and mild spications. The sip is tense and saline; 2020 shows how evolution knows how to transform this freshness into balance and maturity, always maintaining a territorial soul between sea and volcanic mountain. Terre a motivo di Nuna – Etna DOC 2022 and 2015 (for a few meters it does not fall into the complesso of the superior, but can safely be united to the same) high altitude and lava flow of ’71: thesis, mineral wines, almost mountains. Con 2022 the citrine, vibrant energy prevails; 2015, the first corporate vintage, is more complex, large and profound capable of combining a certain olfactory delicacy with a tense and intensely savory sip. Benanti – Etna Indifferente DOC Rinazzo 2022 and 2020un classic and timeless attitude. Con 2022 the citrine soul emerges, anxious, incisive; 2020 shows a further step, more harmonious and persistent, without losing the saline imprint that makes a reference district Renazzo. Maugeri – Etna Indifferente DOC Volpare 2024 and 2022dal virtuous recovery of the family vineyards are born wines that combine strong identity and refined elegance. 2024 is sagace, harmonious, slender and electric, so much is the tension that crosses the palate, without excesses and with rare elegance; 2022 more accomplished, energetic, multifaceted and persistent. By Rachele – EBS Rachele 2023 and 2021 a small reality, a family dream that has become concreteness. 2023 is frank and direct, floral and mineral, 2021 more mature but not at all tired, with a sip that tells of perseverance and passion, but also of love for one’s land and perspective vision.
I therefore like to think of Milo not only a bianchist enclave of what the wine complex that has been more able to enhance its perception per recent vintage (the Etna!), But as an gara open -air laboratory, per continuous becoming, per which vineyards, cellars, accommodation and events are growing around wine, capable of ennobled a very small municipality and preserving the integrity of the context, with many young people who decide. to stay return.
The upper white Etna is not a formal title, but the synthesis of an authentic vocation: granting Italian white wine one of its most valid, vibrant, long -lived and consistent expressions. A territory that challenges time as a concept of becoming, evolving and improving per the vineyard, cellar and bottle; challenges time as an atmosphere and future viticulture despite the climatic crisis; Challenge time as adversity and difficulties dictated by economic and social convergences that see wine per a grip; challenges time as a founding element of the terroir which, here, is done deep root and gaze turned well beyond the horizon.
F.S.R.
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