Federico Graziani, Mareneve, Terre Siciliane IGT 2020 - 75cl

Federico Graziani planted a vineyard where common sense said not to: near the top of Mount Etna, around 1,200 metres up, on black volcanic soil where night temperatures drop hard and the growing season runs late. Graziani, named Italy's best sommelier in 1998, wanted to see how vines would answer that cold, thin air. Mareneve is the answer, and this is the standard 75cl bottle of it.

The vineyard is a genuine field blend under the Terre Siciliane IGT: Etna's own Carricante and Grecanico grow beside northern transplants, Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Chenin Blanc, picked and pressed together. Fermentation happens in steel, malolactic is blocked to hold the acidity intact, and the wine spends around eighteen months on its fine lees before bottling. Nothing here is softened for easy drinking.

The nose opens on rose and broom, then turns towards wood ash, bergamot and pink grapefruit, the volcanic smokiness you find on high-altitude Etna. The palate is all sinew and line: biting acidity, a salinity that keeps building, citrus pith and lava stone rather than ripe fruit. The finish is long, dry and mineral, more mountain stream than orchard. It drinks well now with plenty of air, and the structure suggests it will hold and gain for several years yet.

How to Serve

Pour at 10-12°C, a touch warmer than most whites, in a proper white wine glass so the aromatics have room. Straight from a cold fridge it clams up; let it come round in the glass. A decant helps a young bottle unwind.

Where to Drink It

Noble Rot in Soho, whose list leans into this kind of high-acid, low-intervention bottle. Brat in Shoreditch, where the wood-grilled cooking meets that smoky salinity head on. Bentley's off Piccadilly for a plate of oysters.

Food Pairings

I'd drink it with grilled sea bream, skin blistered and dressed with lemon and good oil. It also cuts through a plate of raw prawns or sea urchin, and stands up to salt cod fritters or a bowl of clams cooked with garlic and chilli.