Fragore

Nerello Mascalese by Donnafugata! Their first 'iconic' wine from Etna. This time I decided to try new tasting format, where I write down notes every 30 minutes to carve development of a single wine over the evening.

TL;DR - I got a slightly faulty bottle :-P So it got only 3.5/5.

t + 0m: Unfortunately, strong aroma of slightly burnt rubber, which sounds like mercaptan to me. Notes of cherry and crushed gravel try to get free, but with no avail. Going to wait for 30 minutes. I would rate it 3.0 at this point.

t + 30m: Alright, the unpleasant odor is mostly gone, but I still suspect to have a faulty bottle. Now it opens with cherry, flint stone, violets, sweet tobacco. Some balsamic notes. Flavours of wild berries and nutmeg. I hear people saying how extraordinary and elegant the palate is, but in my sense it lacks balance. Abv here is too aggressive. I would rate it 3.2 at this point.

t + 60m: Pretty much the same as 30 minutes before, but the faulty odor is gone. I like the long and evolving aftertaste, but I find little enjoyment in overly ethanol-ic finish. I would rate it 3.2 at this point.

t + 90m: Now it became more elegant and pleasant. Barberry candy, violets, sweet tobacco and flint stone. Flavourful, with long and evolving aftertaste. It is still not as balanced as I would love it to be, so I would rate it 3.5 at this point.

So overall, this was a very strange experience. I am happy to try this format as it shows that patience is important (sometimes). Going to repeat this with other bottle.