Generazione Alessandro: 3 cousins making serious wines on Mt. Etna
- Cynthia Chaplin
- May 3
- 8 min read
Updated: May 3
Generazione Alessandro
In recent years, Etna has become my happiest place, where my heart feels at home. Following on from Le Contrade dell’Etna, I had the great pleasure of being a guest at Generazione Alessandro, in Contrade Borriglione near Linguaglossa. Hosted by my friend and colleague Sara Spano,I experienced not only the most generous and beautiful hospitality at the stunningly restored palmento, but also an incredibly fascinating technical tasting of 16 wines. We looked at vintage variation, the potential for Catarratto Extra Lucido to age in both sparkling and still forms, and Etna whites, rosés and reds. The tasting ended with explosively seductive KAID, made with late harvest Syrah for a truly delicious sweet wine. More of that later!
Generazione Alessandro is the project of 3 cousins, who are the 4th generation of the family winery Alessandro di Camporeale, just south of Palermo. The cousins started their winery on Etna in 2016 with only 4 ht, producing their first vintage in 2018. Sara curated a tasting for me that included wines from both wineries, showing the seamless skills, Benedetto the enologist and Benedetto the agronomist, learned from their fathers in Camporeale. The family have been grape growers since the early 20th century, but 2000 was the first vintage made by the fathers of Anna, Benedetto and Benedetto in the winery they built at Camporeale. Both wineries are bio certified and Camporeale is a member of the SOStain project.
Sara skillfully put together a fantastic tasting that encompassed the wines from Camporeale and Etna. We started with 5 wines made from Catarratto – they use the Extra Lucido biotype and this was the second time in two weeks that I heard the subtle news that Catarratto producers are moving more toward calling their wines Lucido. At a Masterclass sponsored by Sicilia DOC Consortium during the Vinitaly International Academy Italian Wine Ambassador course, Giuseppe Figioli pointed to the use of the name Lucido instead of Catarratto as easier to market globally. For the Alessandro family, they are truly referring to the specific biotype they grow and the fact that a naturally occurring protein on the skin of the grape prevents bloom and keeps the grape looking extremely bright.
We started with Metodo Classico Extra Brut 2020, from 35 year old vines in Camporeale at 430 meters above the sea. With 36 months on lees, no malolactic conversion and no use of oak, this delightful sparkling wine is very fresh with bright, zingy acidity and notes of saffron, ginger, white pepper, cardamon and fresh green herbs like sage and thyme. On the palate the wine bursts into a fruity song of ripe yellow grapefruit and lemon pie, with a gently green olive brine adding vibrancy. Generous and well balanced, lovely to drink.
Metodo Classico Sboccatura Tardiva (late disgorgement) Extra Brut 2017, from the same Extra Lucido vineyards, has 7 years bottle ageing on lees and shows a deeper golden colour with the same luminous quality. The fruit is slightly more restrained on the nose, with a hint of dried pineapple and citrus peel, and the beautiful evolution is clear in the notes of hazelnut cream, cedar and warm buttered toast. In the mouth this wine is very elegant with loads of finesse, nutty and creamy, with a symphony of unripe fig, mandarin, sea salts and wet stones. Extra Lucido at its best, proving its ability to age well and tell the story of the inland vineyards in the north of the island, making use of wind and day to night temperature shifts, far from the sea but exalting the soils where the grapes grew, which are filled with ancient marine fossils. Sophisticated and gastronomic, this wine would easily see a lucky diner through an entire meal of seafood, vegetable, delicate meats, and cheese based dishes.
Wines 3, 4 and 5 provided total immersion in still Catarratto wines, all made with 100% Extra Lucido grapes and looking at vintages 2024, 2023 and 2018. My notes after the third wine point out that extra lucido clearly gives less fully ripe fruit aromas than Catarratto Bianco Commune, with more notes of zested citrus fruit, fresh green herbs, hydrocarbons, marine salts and a gentle chalky grip – definitely not base level commercial wines at all!
2024 from Camporeale had an explosive nose of white flowers. With 4 months on fine lees, the wine delivered great flavors of unripe grapefruit, cedro zest, fresh wild garlic and wild fennel, with just a touch of chalky grip. Fresh, bright, clean and totally drinkable.
2023 Monreale from Mandranova was vinified slightly differently, with a year on lees and 20% spending a year in large old French tonneaux. I wrote “this wine reconfirms my love for this grape!” A huge acidic spine lifts the notes of white peach, acacia, oregano, lemon peel, and white pepper, while a subtle smokey flintiness and a touch of petrichor add to the complexity.
2018 from Mandranova is vinified the same as the 2023, but here we really get the evolution of 7 years, with more pronounced scents of cool rain on hot flagstones, a wow of pine resin and dried pineapple on the nose,the vague recollection of cedar and a little more chalk, with the lingering taste grapefruit pith and green almond. All of this buoyed along on lively fresh acidity, no signs of age at all, still a brilliant pale straw color and a wonderfully long citrus zest and saline finish.
We moved on to Grillo, also from Mandranova, following what seems to be the big trend of up and coming high quality Grillo. This 2024 vintage is exactly what Grillo should be, soft and round with a gentle, fresh palate, including notes of fresh dill, fennel, quinine, green almond and white peach. Refined and impactful, with an excellent balance of sea salty tang, lime zest and oyster shell on the finish.
Moving to Etna and the Generazione Alessandro labels, Sara presented Trainara Etna Bianco DOC 2023 and 2019. Both 90% Carricante and 10% Catarratto, the nose is more generous than many Carricantes, due to the fruitiness brought by the Catarratto. The 2023 took me straight to Etna, with alluring aromas of dried green herbs like mint and sage, restrained tropical and lemony zest, and a crunchy salt flake minerality assisted by a vague flinty fumé quality. The 2019 was even bigger in the nose, very lively and complex, with a smokey touch of charcoal wafting over white peach and dried pineapple. Both wines are beautifully balanced and remarkable for their structure and the lingering feel on the palate. Grown on the northeast side of Etna, with 10 months on fine lees in stainless steel only. The potential for ageing is clearly evident here.
Next was Vignazza, the gorgeous rosé made with 100% Nerello Mascalese, Etna’s star red grape. From the most shaded part of Contrada Palmellata, near Linguaglossa, the vines grow at 640 meters above the sea in a vineyard completely surrounded by woods. The harvest is in October and, after 10 months on lees in steel, with 20% of the wine maturing in large old French oak tonneaux, we discover a crystal clear pale rose-gold wine that reflects the light like a sunset across the waves. The 2023 is redolent of Himalayan pink sea salt, crunchy red currant, and dried wild strawberries, with a gorgeous mix of herbs and blood orange peel on the finish. The 2021 is already demonstrating delicious development in the bottle, with an enticing nose that reminded me of marshmallows toasting on a barbeque, with apricot skins and dried peach looking on. The palate brought pomegranate and cranberry with toasted hazelnuts and a sense of strawberry creamed cake on a crisp biscuit. Complex and absolutely impossible to put down. Divine. These wines have a unifying thread of smokey melted cane sugar on top of tart tropical fruit. The mineral, smokey, fumé, salty and fruited elements all work together brilliantly – very distinctive rosé, very elevated, and very Etna.
Time to dig into the reds, beginning with Croceferro Etna DOC Rosso 2022, 100% Nerello Mascalese, 70% spends a year in tonneaux. Another wine that takes me directly to Etna with big notes of blood orange, smoke, iron filings, red geranium petals and fresh vibrant acidity. The wine is a lovely, transparent, rosey ruby red, with succulent notes of crunchy red forest berries, pomegranate seeds, nutmeg and a drop of ripe purple plum. The tannins are silky smooth and very restrained, maintaining fantastic balance and lightness for an incredibly easy to drink wine.
Sciaramanica Vigna Vecchia Etna Rosso DOC 2021, from the Contrada of the same name, set in a natural amphitheatre with old Nerello Mascalese vines (some Cappuccio and Alicante) on dry stone terraces on the northeast side of the volcano, at 660 meters above the sea. Intriguing and complex nose with a hint of something wild, savage and pungent, draws us into the blackberry and black cherry fruit notes. I was reminded of panforte, the chocolate and dried fruit treat served at Christmas in Tuscany, a melody of richness and texture. Aromas of fresh tobacco leaves, dried forest floor, fresh violets, earthy black olives, caper brine, cocoa powder, cinnamon and cloves all came together with a top note of incense and the smoke from hot welding metal. Wonderfully satisfying and perfect for pairing with rich, yet acidic dishes like a baked casserole of grilled eggplant, tomato sauce and salty pecorino cheese.
A quick trip back to Camporeale brought 3 truly Sicilian reds. First was the Nero d’Avola 2022, with only 10% of the wine matured in tonneaux. Ripe red and black fruit with a note of freshly sharpened pencils and graphite. A strong acidic spine supports the ripe dense fruit and the creamy palate. The finish has a delicate hint of dried seaside herbs and iodine – the wine smells big, has 14% alcohol by volume, but somehow, the skilled winemaking keeps it from being too concentrated or too heavy – comes across as a really charming expression of the grape and makes me want another glass.
Monreale Perricone 2023 shows the amount of work that has gone into this wine for the past 10 years. Bang on trend, it is a super-chillable red, with soft powdery tannins, a fabulous deep purple color, a nose full of candied violets, purple wisteria blossom, lilacs, lavender, spun sugar and grape bubblegum. There is a refreshing sprinkle of fresh mint leaves on the finish, completely delightful.
KAID Syrah 2022, 100% Syrah, from Camporeale is the historic icon of the winery near Palermo. Kaid means “the Head of the Tribune,” in ancient dialect and this wine is definitely powerful. Very black fruited with ripe blackberry, black cherry and a little shout of Ricola-style herbal drops. Warm and dry on the palate, the wine is very complex but carefully managed, with well integrated tannins playing happily with the fruit, black pepper spice, good acidity, and herbal elements.
Last wine of the day was KAID’s sweet cousin, KAID Vendemmia Tardiva, 100% Syrah, from a select, small corner of the vineyard. The beautiful, intense color draws you in, but it’s the explosive nose that literally jumped from the glass 2 feet away from my face that got me excited to taste this one. Sara explained, while I sniffed, that the grapes are pinched by hand with surgical forceps at the end of September while they are still on the vine, so they can’t draw water but they remain hanging and drying. The result is a wine with 130 grams of residual sugar, but it is almost undetectable in the sensuous wash of glorious concentrated black raspberry, black currant and blueberry syrup, combined with spicy cloves, dark chocolate richness and medicinal balsamic herbs.
To sum it up, an incredible technical tasting that showed the diversity of Sicily and the exceptional skills of its wine makers -- estates and grapes from two different parts of the island, but all in one family. These are the days that reveal the enormous generosity of spirit the characterises Italian wine producers, especially on Etna. Something about the utterly unique ecosystem, the inescapable evidence of the volcano and its life cycles, the beauty of the rugged landscape with its gorgeous light enhanced by altitude, the proximity of the sea and the lack of pollution -- all of these things simply act as a perfect canvas for the fine wines being crafted there now from Nerello Mascalese and Carricante grapes. Visiting and tasting on Etna has become very meaningful in the most recent years of my wine career and I am forever grateful for sharing these soul-expanding and knowledge-enhancing experiences with the the truly great friends I have made there.
Can't wait to go back!!!
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