Federico Graziani Etna Rosso 2023

Federico Graziani’s path to Etna began early. Named Italy’s Best Sommelier at just 23, he built his reputation as a writer, scholar, and tireless student of wine before turning his attention to the mountain. After earning his degree in viticulture and enology, he apprenticed with Etna visionary Salvo Foti, whose mentorship shaped both his technical precision and his respect for tradition. Today, Fede farms a mosaic of vineyards on Etna’s north face in Passopisciaro and Montelaguardia, where Nerello Mascalese thrives among ancient, pre-phylloxera vines rooted in volcanic sand. This is a special place with its own unique ecosystem featuring remarkable climatic variability and a variegated landscape teeming with life. For the past 2000 years, people here have been growing vineyards in small plots of land reclaimed from the mountain, living in symbiosis with the volcano and adapting to the power and unpredictability of its elements. A member of the Maestranza dei Vigneri, Fede works with minimal intervention, relying on native yeasts, old vines, and intuition to guide each cuvée. His wines mirror the man: refined, intense, and deeply Sicilian, expressions of altitude, patience, and volcanic character.