2019 Frank Cornelissen - Mun Jebel Rosso

The 2019 Nerello Mascalese Munjebel seduces with a rich and sweetly scented bouquet of crushed black cherries, dried roses and cloves. It’s silky in texture, enveloping all that it touches with ripe red fruits and spices, nicely framed by saturating minerality, as inner violet florals form toward the close. There are tannins here, but they don’t get in the way; instead, they create a perfectly dry platform where notes of lavender, plum and allspice hover above. The Munjebel is a blend of fruit from Frank Cornelissen’s vineyards across the northern valley of Etna. It aims to please, and it will excel at doing so through short-term cellaring.

50/50 Grecanico Dorato (aka Garganega) and Carricante. High elevation. Quick cold soak and 18 months on fine lees. Pale gold. Complex aroma that is both slightly sour and a little bit like baked apples but not oxidative. Clean and fresh and a hint of smoky reduction. Intense and salty on the palate, clean and crisp but with broad fruit flavours. Super-fresh. Sour and refreshing. (JH)