Murgo, Etna Rosso

Not to get too self-congratulatory here, but look back at the last few weeks of SommSelect offers and it’s plain to see: It’s been an embarrassment of riches in the $20-$25 range. Today, we have what may be the signature wine of this coveted category: Murgo’s utterly irresistible Etna Rosso.To be able to drink this well at $24 is what SommSelect is all about, and as longtime subscribers know, Murgo is a first-ballot hall-of-famer. On Sicily’s Mount Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano, the Scammacca del Murgo family has been farming vines on the volcano for more than 100 years, so they’ve managed to keep prices low in a zone whose increasingly trendy wines get more expensive each year. Today’s 2018 is, once again, spot-on in terms of style and scale, perfectly encapsulating everything that makes Etna, and the Nerello Mascalese grape, so special. We don’t ever offer a wine without tasting it first, but with this wine—and really any wine from Murgo, frankly—we could confidently do so if