2021 Munjebel Rosso VA
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Coming from le Vigne Alte from two vineyards (not a single vineyard wine), the transparent medium red-colored 2021 MunJebel Rosso VA is very pretty on the nose and more Volnay-like, with pomegranate, cranberry cocktail, dried orange, dusty earth, and dried herbs. Medium-bodied, it floats on the palate with lovely fresh notes of strawberries and a weightless charm. It’s light on its feet but has an underlying structure. Its floating, weightless feel give it an ethereal quality even in this hot vintage and offers the most similarity in the range to Magma in its character. Drink 2025-2035. This was my first visit to the cellar of Frank Cornelissen, located in the northern valley of Etna, and I am already looking forward to my next visit. In this cellar, there’s no oak, and everything is aged in fiberglass tanks. It doesn’t take long to realize the numerous pitfalls imitators might face in trying to mimic this winemaking style. While on paper the winemaking might sound hands-off or cavalier, nothing could be further from the truth. Frank Cornelissen may very well be one of the most exacting and hardest-working winemakers I have met to date. He has thought everything through, and nothing is off-limits to analyze, improve on, and correct. There’s more to be said about all this, but for the time being, I’ll just say that my expectations were blown out of the water by these wines, which have a precision and detail that raises the bar both intellectually and hedonistically. Now isn’t that what great wines should be all about?
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Jeb Dunnuck
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
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This is my favorite wine from Frank Cornelissen among this group of new releases. The 2021 Munjebel Rosso VA (with just 4,000 bottles created) reveals a straight-shooting style with lively aromas of wild cherry, blue flower and sour pomegranate. To the palate, it shows a lean and firm delivery with a good moment of snap or crunch on the finish. Fruit comes from some of the younger vines in the Vigneto Barbarbecchi at 900 meters above sea level, and more comes from Tartaraci at the 1,000-meter mark high up the volcanic cone. The alcohol content is powerful at 15%.
The 2021 Rosso Munjebel VA is a total pleasure on the nose. Darkly expressive, it shows a collage of violets and geraniums mixed with dusty earth, ash and dried black cherry. Cool-toned and fruit-focused within, this displays amazing balance with its silken feel and feminine lift. Wild berries mix with tactile minerals and spices as the 2021 leaves a firm grip of fine tannins but also a bump of zesty acidity to contrast. It's nearly impossible to stop at just one glass.