Vino di Anna Vendredi 13 2021

Vendredi 13 is Vino di Anna's special blend from the challenging 2021 vintage on Mount Etna – a wine born from necessity and creativity. Named tongue in cheek to reflect the challenging year of 2021 for all, and that for some 'Friday 13th' is considered unlucky while for others, it's a day to celebrate.

Vibrant purple-red in colour, this wine has attractive aromas of cherries, strawberries, and wild fennel. It is dry, medium-bodied with juicy, ripe tannins, red fruit flavours, and underlying spice. The blend is 90% Nerello Mascalese, 5% Nerello Cappuccio/Alicante (Grenache), and about 5% white indigenous Etnean grapes (Grecanico, Minnella Bianca, and Carricante).

2021 was an extremely hot and dry year on Mount Etna which resulted in a low-yielding harvest of ripe, healthy grapes. However, sugar levels were higher than normal and the skins of the black grapes were thicker and more tannic. Nature proved dominant, and in order to produce a balanced wine, Anna and Eric found the need to blend the wines that usually would have been destined for their Palmento Rosso and Jeudi 15 Rosato labels, along with a white wine made from old bush vines of Grecanico, Carricante, and Minnella.

All of the grapes were organically grown in terraced vineyards high on the north face of Mount Etna. The fruit was hand-harvested and fermented in a variety of vessels by indigenous yeasts – Etnean palmento, open wooden fermenter, mastellone (food-grade plastic tubs), and stainless steel. Time on skins varied from a few days to 8-10 days, with a large percentage of whole bunches used. All the wines underwent malolactic fermentation. Each individual component was not true to style but when blended together produced a balanced, energetic wine, full of fruit with the trademark minerality of grapes grown at high altitude on volcanic soils.

Vino di Anna is a small, family wine estate situated on the north face of Mount Etna, Sicily. Anna Martens and Eric Narioo have been making natural wines together on Mount Etna for nearly 15 years. Today, with a team of locals, they cultivate organically eight hectares of terraced land by hand. They make a range of minimal intervention wines that focus on energy, respect for nature, and reflection of terroir.

Serve it at room temperature with grilled meats, roasted vegetables, pasta with tomato sauce, or aged cheeses. This is honest, energetic Etna red showing the creativity and adaptability required in natural winemaking.