2019 Buscemi Tartaraci Sicilia IGT

The Tartaraci Rosso is made by Mirella Buscemi, in the Contrada of Tartaraci, near the town of Bronte, Etna. While perhaps initially known by association (she is the wife of the famed Etna producer, Alberto Graci), Mirella has certainly found her own stride, selecting a vineyard site outside of the Etna DOC and working with the old vine Grenache, historic to the Aragonese occupation of Sicily and southern Italy.

With only 2,900 bottles produced, Tartaraci is made from 90-year-old albarello vines. Since these vines were planted as a field blend almost a century ago, Mirella honors the vision of the agronomist and creates the unique blend of 70% Nerello Mascalese, 30% Garnaccia (Grenache) in her wines. The Garnaccia, which softens the acidity of the Nerello Mascalese, also gives the wine a plump ripeness. Vinified at the Graci cantina, Tartaraci is fermented in cement before ageing in 10HL large botte for 18 months. It could easily age for a decade. 

This wine is homage to Sicily and Mt. Etna's eclectic history. In choosing to not rip up the Grenache in favor of Nerello Mascalese, Mirella's wine shines unique and freaking delicious, confirming that the grape does indeed have a place on Etna. It's bright, with more fruit depth than Nerello Mascalese, dusty, bright, and shows aging potential.

In 1799, England’s Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson had just vanquished the French in the Mediterranean and was given by the Neapolitan king the title, Duke of Bronte—plus a plot of land on Mount Etna’s northwest face, covered in grape vines.

These few acres, at 1010m asl, still retains the same mix of grapes they did centuries ago: Nerello Mascalese, Etna’s native red grape, and Grenache—a legacy, perhaps, of the Spanish House of Bourbon that ruled the region during the 18th century. One might argue even before than, and ode to the Aragon (present day Catalonia) presence well before in the 14th c.

Azienda Agricola Buscemi honors the ancient ties of the Mediterranean winemaking diaspora. These two red grapes thrive amid Etna’s extreme climactic conditions—for wines of impeccable balance and freshness that are like few other wines from Sicily.

Winemaker Mirella Buscemi, originally from Syracuse, is a trained chemist; it was her grandparents who owned vineyards and who inspired in her a love of viticulture and wine. Fate showed its hand once she met and married winemaker Alberto Graci (of Azienda Agricola Graci in Passopisciaro), with a wedding gift of ‘Tartaraci,’ the plot of land once owned by naval legends, now back in native hands.

With bush-trained vines more than 100 years old, ‘Tartaraci’ is a unique vineyard, covered in snow during winter and Mediterranean-hot in summer. Yet great wine is always made at the extremes—and it is here, at altitude, where Mirella crafts world-class red and white wines redolent of wild herbs and silky fruit, in micro-quantities.