Contrade dell’Etna 2016 – the wines

Contrade dell’Etna, the annual presentation of embryonic Etna wines, is becoming less of an en primeur event. While in previous years producers used to pour cask samples of wines that had barely gone through malolactic conversion (and in some years had not even got half way through it), this year many producers chose to show only bottled wines, notably from the particularly successful 2014 vintage. I think they are right, because half-finished wines are difficult to interpret and during ageing can change radically. 

Tasting 2015 next to 2014 had...