Why Graci Arcurìa is a Sicilian red to watch

With his dark curly hair and penetrating eyes, Alberto Graci still seems exceptionally young to have been a pioneer of the Etna wine revival.

From the time this former banker bought his first vineyards in 2004, Graci has fully understood their potential, which he is keen to maximise without indulging in excessive intervention.

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He has vineyards at 6-700m (Arcurìa), as well as the more extreme elevation of 1000m (Barbabecchi). Graci’s farming is organic, and some parcels are planted to a very high density of 10,000 vines per hectare.Arcurìa in Passopisciaro is his main site, with 18ha planted, although three of them are white varieties destined for Etna Bianco. The soil here is volcanic, mixed with some sand and iron deposits.

Arcurìa

In the past, the Arcurìa wine was labelled as Quota 600, but since 2012 it has been given its proper single-vineyard name. The site is planted with Etna’s principal red variety, Nerello Mascalese, which gives wines that are perfumed and seductive but also have considerable tannins and structure. Achieving the right balance between these disparate elements is no easy task.

Graci does not want to mask the personality of his wines, nor their fidelity to the special character of each vintage. So rather than use new oak, he ferments his wines in larger casks fashioned from Nevers oak.

He employs natural yeasts and dispenses with temperature control, and the maceration period is generally around 25 days. The wine is aged for 18 months in casks then bottled without filtration.

Vintage variation can be pronounced on Etna thanks to its elevation and susceptibility to unexpected rainfall. This is not something that Graci wishes to gloss over, thus extremely hot years such as 2012 and damper but fresher vintages such as 2015 produce very different wines.

In partnership

The great Piedmontese winemaker Angelo Gaja does not suffer fools gladly, so there was international attention when he decided to initiate a joint venture on Etna, and chose Graci as his partner, which validated Alberto’s status as one of the region’s leading producers. Their first wines have yet to be released.

Graci Arcurìa for the cellar:

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