After my first "hidden gem" Etna supplier was acquired by a big Italian wine group, who then immediately started selling the wines on wine.com...while ignoring the fact that I had already been importing the wines, I then needed to find a new Etna supplier.  I love exploring, however, and found even more expressive and terroir-driven wines from Neri Agricoltura which is near Linguaglossa on the north-east side of Etna.  With my food oriented approach to wines, I also search for very "minerally" wines that are a pure expression of the minerals in the soil as such minerality both refreshes the palate and accentuates the natural flavors in the food.

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Volcanic soils are also sort of like minerals on steroids and naturally fermented wines from such soils have really deep palate persistence which definitely accentuates the flavors in food.  There also may be no more intense expression of volcanic soils on wine than on the slopes of Etna and my new Etna Bianco and Etna Rosso from Neri are a pure expression of such terroir.  The connection with food is also very strong within the Neri family as they have a spectacular restaurant (12 Fontane) that is located at a lovely small hotel (Villa Neri) owned by the family and the Neri wines are a focus of the wine list.

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The first focus of the family's activities, however, is agriculture and they have 12 acres of vineyards at about 2,000 feet of elevation and about ten acres of olive groves.  All farming is organic and harvesting is through hand picking and both result in the very high quality wines produced on the estate.  There is also a very gentle and respectful approach in the cellar in making the wines as they trust their very high quality fruit to make naturally expressive examples of Nerello Mascalese for the rosso and a really delightful blend of Carricante and Catarratto for the bianco.