Tasca D'Almerita Regaleali Le Rose

The Tasca d'Almerita family has farmed the Regaleali estate in the Sicilian interior since 1830, and their Nerello Mascalese rosé is one of the earliest serious expressions of that grape in pink form — long before the variety's volcanic fame made it fashionable. Regaleali sits at 400–600 metres elevation in the Monti Sicani, where calcareous clay soils and a significant diurnal temperature range preserve natural acidity that the scorching Sicilian lowlands routinely strip away. The altitude and inland position mean harvest runs weeks later than coastal Sicily, allowing phenolic maturity without sugar excess. Vinification is brief cold maceration on Nerello Mascalese skins to extract the grape's characteristic copper-salmon pigment and delicate tannin structure, followed by temperature-controlled fermentation designed to retain aromatic lift. Stainless steel aging keeps the profile fruit-primary and saline. What separates this expression from the flood of Etna rosati is its provenance: Regaleali is not on Etna — it is an inland estate with limestone-clay rather than volcanic basalt, producing a broader, more textured rosé than the mineral austerity typical of lava-soil Nerello. Drink young, within two to three years of vintage, when the dried-strawberry and orange-zest character is most vivid.