TN: 2017 Girolamo Russo Etna 'a Rina (Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC)

I got turned on to Girolamo Russo’s wines while in Rome a couple years back. Really like the wines. Good value, speak of a place, yadda yadda. I don’t drink a ton of it, but happy to have some to pop on occasion.

  • 2017 Girolamo Russo Etna 'a Rina - Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC (12/4/2020)
    I dig the bright red cherry and rocky character of these wines. Vibrant and youthful, with undertones of rock and earth. It’s almost medium weight and has some structure to integrate, yet lighter weight in the mouth. Really rounds out with some air and you get more black/cocoa cherry and hints of tobacco. I think time will do it well, though no harm in drinking now for it’s youthful vibrancy.

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Really love their wines. The ‘a Rina always hits the spot for me.

Had a rosato a few months back and went on a mad hunt for more afterwards.

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Had that rosato over the summer and totally agree. [cheers.gif]

Thanks for the note Dennis. I keep picking these up and putting them back in the cellar for fear that they’re too young.

Joe- You will be rewarded. I have been blowing through them to get a read as they are still new to me, but I realize I am drinking them too young. [cheers.gif]

Dennis, I’ve considered buying this recently but didn’t pull the trigger. Any other producer(s) to whom you could compare Russo’s style?

Hi Michael,
It might be an obvious answer due to demographics, but similar to Occhipinti in terms of freshness, depth without weight, etc. The Russo wines are a bit bigger, and perhaps need a little more age to shine.

Thanks Dennis. I’m a big fan of Occhipinti. I’ll keep an eye out and grab a couple of these when I next see them.

I generally drink the 'a Rina within 3 years of buying it, and age the ‘cru’ wines for at least 5 years. They aren’t particularly tannic but I feel they really develop well in the bottle.

(We import Russo for some markets.)

Thank you guys for the insight

I also like a’ Rina, but don’t really see it as something that should be aged beyond 4 or 5 years post-vintage.|I don’t see the upside.
As for the cru bottlings, not sure if anything has changed recently, as I no longer really follow Russo that much these days, but I bought quite a bit early on and tried ageing them. The result were less than exhilarating, once near the ten-year mark.
On the whole, I think his white, Nerina, is the best wine in the line-up.

thanks, all, for the ongoing conversation. I’m going to age some of the A’Rina for the sake of seeing what happens.

@Tvrtko- the Nerina was the Russo wine that got me hooked when in I was in Rome. Lovely wine.

Great to see you posting again, Tvrtko.

The earliest Russo wines (after Giuseppe’s dad died) were made at Terre Nere, with the kind help of Marc de Grazia, and somewhat followed Terre Nere’s style at the time. The recent bottlings are in 1,000L or the classic 2,500L barrels, after long macerations, and are I think much deeper. Giuseppe was studying music when his dad died and it took him a little while to find his feet.

Popped one last night and it was delicious

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Salvo Foti is the first that comes to mind. Beautiful wines.

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Interesting timing, as just last night I was reading the latest Kogod offer for Salvo Foti and thought: a. How had I not heard of Salvo Foti? and b. I need to try! A new name to me. Thanks for another plug.

Just saw this and it made think of this thread. On ageAbility:

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Thanks! Another producer for me to seek out and try!