After almost thirty years of experience vinifying the well-known Etna Rosso Rovittello, in 2015 Benanti decided to aim for new heights by focusing exclusively on the small, pre-phylloxera portion of the vineyard and extending the wine’s vinification, maturation and refining period to 60 months, thereby creating this new, exclusive Etna Rosso Riserva produced in a very limited quantity.

The colour is pale ruby with light tints of garnet. The nose is fine, ethereal, floral, intense, spicy, delicate with hints of ripe fruits and noble wood. The palate is dry, tannic, mineral, elegant, harmonic, with remarkable persistence.

Nerello Mascalese (c.90%), Etna’s noble indigenous red variety, and Nerello Cappuccio (c.10%), cultivated on Etna for centuries. The two varieties are co-planted in the same vineyard, with a sandy, volcanic soil, rich in minerals, with sub-acid reaction. The head-trained bush vines (“alberello”) are pre-phylloxera and ungrafted, with a planting density of 9,000 to 10,000 vinestocks per hectare and a yield of 5,500 kg/ha. The area’s mountain climate is humid and rather rainy in the colder season, snowy at times, with good ventilation and very significant diurnal range.