BTL $47.95+ (6x750ml)

100% Nerello Mascalese

“Il Purgatorio almost seems like a tongue and cheek reference for Etna, as if denoting history’s nether time in the shadow of the island’s volcano, set between safety and imminent to inevitable danger. Ash and smoke perpetually spews while winemakers continue to craft indelible wines from the “lower” basaltic slopes. The journey of Federico Curtaz takes him from birth in Val d’Aosta, living most of his life in Piemonte, studying and teaching agronomy in Asti and in 1983 meeting and then collaborating with Angelo Gaja for the next 15 years. In 2015 he starts his own self-titled winery where on Etna’s eastern slopes near Milo he grows carricante and on the southern slopes near Biancavilla the spot nests for his nerello mascalese. The latter makes for his Etna Rosso and in 2017 the posit tug between hyper real fruit and salutary meeting exhilarative volcanic salinity may just take your breath away. The level of purity, god honest truth and settling palate texture beats the Etna drum, slowly, purposefully and hypnotically. You will get lost in this Rosso, if you are so inclined and allow for that kind of succumbing, even if to do so is not in your nature. Let go and let it happen. Trust is everything and Il Purgatorio can be trusted. Drink 2023-2032.” Michael Godel-94 points-winealign.com