2020 Dolce & Gabbana Cuordilava Etna Rosso, Donnafugata

• Style: Elegant, mineral-driven Nerello Mascalese
• Taste: Wild strawberry, violet, forest floor; savory and tensile
• Food: Roasted lamb, game, aged hard cheese, beef & steak
• Occasion: Gifting, cellar worthy
• Serve: 14% ABV, 16–18°C, decant 30 mins

In the Glass — Tasting Notes

Mount Etna's volcanic minerality meets wild strawberry and violet in a wine of remarkable clarity. Grown at 700–750 metres on the north face, these grapes ripen slowly under Mediterranean sun and cool nights, building the acidity and mineral structure that define the finest expressions of Nerello Mascalese. In the glass you'll find plum lifted by forest-floor earthiness—not the ripe, jammy sweetness of warmer climates, but a savory, tensile red that speaks clearly of its volcanic home. The palate is broad without heaviness; tannins are woven in rather than dominating, with a persistence that lingers without demanding.

The Winery — Donnafugata

The Rallo family has tended wine beneath Marsala since 1851, but it was their 1983 launch of Donnafugata that signalled a decisive shift toward Sicily's native varieties and their true potential. Today, 18 hectares on Etna's slopes benefit from volcanic soils and traditional dry-stone terraces carved from lava rock. The 2020 vintage offered balanced conditions—cold winter, mild spring, meaningful diurnal temperature swing—and the cellar team responded with restraint: vibrating-table sorting, careful destemming, ten to twelve days of skin contact in steel, then eighteen months in French oak followed by at least two years in bottle. The result tastes neither oaked nor rushed, but settled and confident.

At Your Table — Food Pairing & Serving

This is food wine, pure and simple. Serve alongside roasted lamb, game birds, beef & steak, risotto, or aged hard cheeses; at 14% ABV with a pH of 3.5, it has the spine to stand with richer, earthier dishes without turning thin. Decant for thirty minutes before service and serve at 16–18°C. The 2020 earned 90–93 points from leading critics and sits amongst our finest Italy selections as proof of what happens when a serious producer meets a serious site. If you're exploring Nerello Mascalese for the first time or deepening your knowledge of Sicily's red-wine renaissance, this vintage deserves your attention. We have space for only a few bottles of each release; should this interest you, we'd suggest tasting it soon.