Notes from Oliver McCrum:

Giuseppe Russo had been studying to be a pianist when his father Girolamo died unexpectedly in 2005. He then came back home to Mount Etna to take over the family vineyards. Since that time he has been organically farming these old vines, some of them more than 100 years old, and he has restored the old cellar under his house. He has 15 hectares of vines on the North side of Etna, around the town of Passopisciaro, including pieces of some famous ‘contrade’, as the historic localities are known here. For Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo lovers, Nerello Mascalese is an exciting discovery. It can produce reds of impressive subtlety and structure, drinkable when young and even better with a few years of age. 

His rosé is made entirely of old-vine Nerello Mascalese grown in the San Lorenzo contrada.