The 2017 Etna Rosso Aetneus (a blend of 80% Nerello Mascalese and 20% Nerello Cappuccio from 90-year-old vines on the north flank of Etna) shows extra richness and concentration in this warm vintage. The wine opens to a medium dark color with soft cherry and blackcurrants. It feels plump and soft to the palate, and the tannins are tucked in nicely within the wine's soft texture. Production is 6,600 bottles.

The 2014 vintage was considered excellent on Etna (as opposed to mainland Italy where it was a washout), and I still remember the ruby intensity and the bright colors of Nerello Mascalese during fermentation. It's nice to step back into time with a wine like the I Custodi 2014 Etna Rosso Aetneus. This wine is 80% Nerello Mascalese with smaller parts Alicante (Grenache) and other complementary grapes added to the blend. The vines selected to make this wine are very old, at 80 years of age, and are planted at a cool 700 meters in elevation. This is a beautiful wine with a raw or punchy personality, and medium dark concentration, that makes it taste younger than its real age. It ages in tonneaux for three years, but the primary fruit remains at center stage. This is a special, well-priced wine with 5,000 bottles released.

This wine is released a few years later than its peers. It offers a fascinating glimpse into the aging trajectory of red wine from Etna. The 2012 Etna Rosso Aetneus is a bold and powerful expression with ample muscle power and determination that drives it from the back. It shows dark fruit nuances with black currant and spicy cranberry with tarry, smoky notes. The wine's soft fruit fiber has held up elegantly over these past eight years. The bouquet is very clean and polished, and although you are reminded of the wine's volcanic origins, those mineral notes are never too strong. I am happily impressed with this beautiful expression from Etna. Some 11,312 bottles and 300 magnums were made.

The 2009 Etna Rosso Aetneus is released six years or more after the harvest to underline the aging potential of red wines from Mount Etna. This beautiful expression opens to a darkly saturated ruby color and shows more concentration that similar wines from more recent vintages. The wine is proof that aging, in rare cases, can build color intensity in high-altitude Nerello Mascalese. This wine also sees small percentages of Nerello Cappuccio and Alicante (Grenache). The bouquet offers elegant tertiary aromas of tar, licorice and road paving that segue to dried cherry and black currant. The finish offers integrated tannins and a powerful blast of dark fruit. This is a very successfully aged Etna red.

The top-shelf red is the 2008 Etna Rosso Aetneus that pays homage to this mighty Sicilian volcano with fruit from pre-phylloxera, 150-year-old vines. I tasted this same vintage last year and assigned the wine a score with a question mark because the bouquet appeared muted and muddled. Whatever problem I encountered last year happily did not reappear during this tasting. This is a strong and physical wine with sharp aromas of wild berry, forest floor, wild mushroom and sweet violets. It shows distinct mineral linearity that reinforces the wine's overall elegance and immediacy. The fruit used here is mostly Nerello Mascalese and there are smaller percentages of Nerello Cappuccio and Alicante (or Grenache).