Etnella - Notti Stellate 2024

Notti Stellate 2024 is a natural wine crafted by Etnella, in the Sicily region in Italy. This red wine is made with Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Grenache and Syrah grapes. Etnella is Davide Bentivegna, working alone on the north-eastern slope of Mount Etna from the farm at Notti Stellate. He is Sicilian but came to wine late, leaving a corporate job in Milan and learning first from an elderly neighbour who had a single vineyard, then from Stefano Bellotti, Aldo Viola and Frank Cornelissen. His plots are spread across several contrade between 600 and 1,000 metres, the vines trained low in the local alberello bush style that rules out any machine, with the old dry-stone terraces rebuilt and olive and fruit trees planted among the rows. Each label carries a red dot and a number, and the number is the altitude of that plot. Notti Stellate shares its name with the farm the winery sits on. It is 85% Nerello Mascalese, 10% Nerello Cappuccio and a 5% share of Grenache and Syrah, from vines of 40 to 120 years between 620 and 800 metres. Fifteen days on skins, then oak. 13% alcohol.