Taste the Volcano: A Frank Cornelissen Dinner at The Grove
Are you ready to turn up the heat? Join us at The Grove this October for our Annual Frank Cornelissen dinner event, where we'll be sipping some of the most sought after luminary wines from the volcanic faces of Mount Etna in Sicily, in the finest degustation dining room in New Zealand. It's fire meets fire.
Frank Cornelissen's wines will be expertly paired with a dish from the talented team at The Grove (menu to be confirmed).
Wine list:
- 2022 Frank Cornelissen Susucaru Rosato
- 2022 Frank Cornelissen Susucaru Rosso
- 2021 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso
- 2020 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso CR Contrada Campo Re
- 2019 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso CR Contrada Campo Re
- 2020 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso MC Monte Colla
- 2019 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso MC Monte Colla
- 2020 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso VA Vigne Alte
- 2019 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso VA Vigne Alte
To reserve your seat/table for this special evening, you can contact your account manager.
Seats are $245 inc GST per person.
https://www.dnfinewine.co.nz/frank-cornelissen-2020-new-vintage-new-hotness/
Frank Cornelissen 2020 - New Vintage, New Hotness
Frank Cornelissen 2020: New Vintage, New Hotness
Another Hot Drop from the Godfather of Natural Wines
It’s 2024 and not only have we secured the newest vintages from the volcanic slopes of Sicily’s Mount Etna, but there’s a new hotness among them from the Godfather of Natural Wines: Frank Cornelissen’s Susucaro Rosso 2022! Produced with the same thought process and vinification techniques that’s made Frank’s other wines an organic icon of the winemaking industry, we’re very excited to introduce this new icon to the New Zealand market.
“Cornelissen is pushing toward the top of his dramatic arc, as I discovered during a recent visit with him. His wines have never been better”
– Monica Larner for Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate, 2023
For anyone that’s watched The White Lotus Season 2, you’ll know how beautiful active stratovolcano Mt Etna is, and how it dominates the landscape with its ever-steaming activity. On its slopes, beneath the glow of molten rock is where you’ll find Azienda Agricola Frank Cornelissen, led by – you guessed it – Frank Cornelissen. Here, they grow grapes, olives and forage for juniper berries for winter stews (it’s like a lava-tinged Disney scene).
About Frank Cornelissen
“One of the most significant figures in the revival of winegrowing on the slopes of Mount Etna”
– Robin Lee for The World of Fine Wine
Robin Lee sums Frank up nicely, and we’ve blogged extensively about this humble icon before, which you can read here:
- Oct 2023: New Year, New Frank
- May 2023: Red Hot ‘n’ Smokin’
- May 2020: Too HOT to Handle
But for those not wanting to go down a click rabbit-hole, let’s summarise…
When the Belgian ex-fine wine dealer came to Etna in 2001, his vision was that this is one of the few locations on Earth where wine could be made without any manipulation. He purchased old vines that had been planted during the Phylloxera crisis (which couldn’t survive in the volcanic soils here).
Mistakes were made as he learned along the way, but with time, the style of Frank Cornelissen became renowned. His hands-off approach was deemed extreme, even by his own standards and he admits that perhaps he took it a little too far sometimes. “My wines used to be anti-wines,” admits Cornelissen. His initial philosophy was never to use sulphur dioxide (SO²) in his wines. In every wine making decision, his aim was for absolute purity. His uncompromising and often extreme, (but always creative) visionary efforts to maintain the highest level of cellar hygiene without using SO² made him an idol of the natural wine world. However, over the past 22 years, trailblazing Cornelissen has needed to evolve. He has modified his thinking and methodology of this earlier philosophy.
Still today, this is a winery that practises non-interventionist principles across their twenty-four hectares and eschews overhandling of the wines in the winery and cellar. However, there have been a number of changes to the process, including the fact he’s now using minimal amounts of SO² during racking and before bottling. “Quality- focused with natural being the inspiration, not the destination” explains Jancis Robinson MW.
“Frank Cornelissen is an Etna pioneer, and his contributions to the success of this special Sicilian wine region are immeasurable. His influences on Italy’s natural wine movement are equally important, and he was alone in embracing both concepts (Etna and natural wine) simultaneously. His winemaking experiments on the volcano started in 2001, and Cornelissen emerges as a major figure today”
– Monica Larner for Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate, 2023
In a profile by Jancis Robinson, Cornelissen confessed that “2015 was my learning vintage that showed me the limit [of non intervention]. 2018 showed that I should have added a little SO² to 2015. 2017 was OK but 2018 really needed the SO². It was 2018 that changed my mind about SO². I’m very happy with the new technique, and 2020 is where I really want to get to. 2019 was deceptive. The fruit was very, very clean but we still needed the sorting table because there was a lot of variation. 2018 though was really difficult.”
“[Cornelissen] calls his 2019s ‘pretty’ and likens his 2019 Nerello Mascaleses to Pinot Noir whereas 2017 was more like Nebbiolo. His favourite vintages are 2011 and 2020.”
– Jancis Robinson “Soldera and Cornelissen” 2022
The 2020 Vintage
“What can I say, Frank Cornelissen is at the top of his game, [] and I can honestly say that I have never seen such precision, purity, and consistency as I’ve seen tasting the last few vintages”
– Eric Guido for Vinous
Our newest shipment of Frank Cornelissen wines includes a wave of goodies from the 2020 vintage, as well as a new gem – Susucaru® Rosso – from 2022.
Every year, Frank releases a vintage report. For the 2020 wines, he’s dubbed the vintage officially ‘Great’:
“The real winter came only at the end of January but with good snow; the pruning was finished late as we had to do some corrective pruning in a new vineyard which took more time than planned.
“The rest of the season was relatively balanced and we slid into the harvest pretty smoothly, albeit with some stress for some workers concerned about getting COVID and sending the whole team in quarantine… It was very stressful to keep everybody safe and sound but we managed with lots of precautions.
“Harvest went pretty easy as the nice weather was continuing until late autumn. A nice compensation for the COVID stress!
“The reds have a nice balance and I like the structure of the wines as tannins are present and it all fits nicely.
“Magma was picked in perfect zodiac and I was really happy. The Bianco Vigne Alte will be promising.
“My preferred wine of this vintage: Susucaru® Rosato for its rich flavours and freshness combined.”
Susucaru® Rosso The New Kid on the Block
The Susucaru® wines are the entry-level range from Frank, and after the roaring success of the Rosato (which we almost have to hide from our DN staff) we’re super excited to add the Rosso to the lineup.
2022 Frank Cornelissen Susucaru Rosso
The 2022 Susucaru Rosso is a field-blend of mostly Nerello Mascalese (85%) with other local varietals all the vineyards: Nerello Cappuccio, Allicante Boushet, Minnella and Uva Francesa. Susucaru® Rosso perfectly expresses Etna, as it is produced in a more traditional way, blending different contrada’s as well as different varietals to obtain a fragrant, elegant and fluid wine with structure and personality.
The name Susucaru® comes from a Sicilian expression meaning “they stole it”, which is what Frank’s crew shouted when they realised most of the grapes from their first vintage had vanished.
From Vineyards Picciolo, Malpasso, Campo Re, Crasà, Piano Daini, Feudo di Mezzo. Grapes were destemmed and lightly crushed, before fermentation with a “pied-de-cuve” using only indigenous yeasts and skin contact for about 30 days. It was aged in neutral epoxy tanks from 2500-7000 litres. No fining, and filtering occurred before bottling with cartridges of 3 micron.
The Explosive New 2020 Batch from Frank Cornelissen
2020 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso 'VA' (Vigne Alte)
A blend of ungrafted Nerello Mascalese from Cornelissen’s three highest vineyards (hence Vigne Alte or ‘Tall/High Vineyards’): Tartaraci (1000m. asl), Barbabecchi (910m. asl), Rampante soprana (870m. asl)
“The most Burgundian of all our crus.” Nerello Mascalese 100% from 90+ year old ungrafted vines. With an annual production of only 2,500 bottles. Grapes were destemmed and lightly crushed before a “pied-de-cuve” fermentation using only indigenous yeasts and skin contact for about 60 days. Aged in neutral epoxy tanks from 1500-2500 litres for 18 months and another 18 months in bottle. No fining. Filtering before bottling with PP cartridges of 5 micron.
Previous Vintages Accolades:
- 16.5+ Points Jancis Robinson (2019)
- 97 Points Robin Lee World of Fine Wine (2019)
- 96 Points Decanter (2017)
- 93 Points Robert Parker (2017)
2020 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso ‘MC’ (Monte Colla)
This pure Nerello Mascalese comes from contrada Monte Colla. An extremely steep and terraced vineyard, beautifully exposed to sun and wind and right in front of Mount Etna. The sandy clay soil and the old-vine Nerello Mascalese, planted in 1946, produces a rich and powerful wine, maintaining grace and elegance. Our “Hermitage” of Etna.”
“Monte Colla MC delivers punchy red fruit flavors with rose, lilac and hints of powdered licorice root. There is a subtle play of fruit versus floral intensity in this wine. The vineyards enjoy heavier soils, with clay in part, that are rich in silicon at 780 meters in elevation. The vines were planted in 1948 and 1949 with south-southwest exposures, where they get the last light of the day. These are ancient soils, and marine fossils are sometimes found on Monte Colle. Geologically speaking, this site is unique in the Etna context.”
94 Points, Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate
“Lovely cool berry, orange blossom, pumice, smoke and lava aromas, but subtle and complex. Bark and mushroom, too. Full-bodied and very structured with powerful tannins that are polished and thought-provoking. This needs time to soften. Clearly one for the cellar. Best after 2026.”
96 Points – JamesSuckling.com (8/4/23)
2020 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso ‘CR’ (Contrada Campo Re)
This pure Nerello Mascalese comes from a partly ungrafted vineyard ‘Campo Re’, situated at the far western side in the valley floor, at the entrance of Randazzo. The vineyard altitude is 735m. asl and is characterised by deep soil which, in humid vintages creates major difficulties to obtain ripe fruit. The wines are profound and tannic, and more Nebbiolo-ish compared to other crus.
“I like the aromas of vine bark, rose stem, light parsley, and red fruits that follow through to a medium body, with white pepper and cloves with a fresh and vivid finish. Tight and tannic. Shows tightness and focus. Best after 2025 but already fascinating to taste. (8/4/23)”
95 Points – JamesSuckling.com
“These results from 2020 show a lot of fruit character and dark cherry concentration with hints of curry leaf, mint, oregano and some of the wild herbs that grow on the volcano. The tannins are softly integrated and the acidity is bright. Mineral nuances add complexity.”
92 Points – Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate
2020 Frank Cornelissen Magma
Magma® is Frank Cornelissen’s top cuvée, their “Grand Vin” and is produced only in great vintages where they achieve phenolic ripeness. Hailing from the Barbabecchi vineyard at 910m. asl. Planted around 1910 and North-North East exposed, capturing the first and cool morning sun rays. A profound wine, rich as well as elegant, with character, personality and great finesse. Vinification starts with a “pied-de-cuve” using only indigenous yeasts and skin contact for about 50 days before aging in neutral epoxy tanks 1500-2500 liters for 18 months and another 18 months in bottle. Annual production in the years it’s produced is around 2,000 bottles.
Bottles are hand-painted and to combat the increasing risk of counterfeit bottles, since 2016, Magma® has an NFC chip integrated into the label of each bottle which contains information regarding the authenticity of the wine.
In addition to the microchip, Magma® uses unique Ardeaseal closures on the bottles and magnums, further guaranteeing authenticity as these patented closures are manufactured in only one factory in the world.
“The Frank Cornelissen 2020 Sicilia Nerello Mascalese Vigna Barbabecchi Magma is a creative and original wine that is a lot of fun to drink and dissect. Fruit comes from a vineyard site at about 1,000 meters in elevation above the Contrada Rampante. This 2.5-hectare site was planted in 1910, and more than half of the fruit goes toward this production. The wine offers ample richness and volume with dark berry, campfire ash, grilled herb and cola.”
94 Points – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Previous Vintages Accolades:
- 18 Points Jancis Robinson (2019)
- 96 Points Robin Lee World of Fine Wine (2019)
- 97+ Points Decanter (2019)
Also Still Available...
2022 Frank Cornelissen Susucaru Rosato
(Prior vintages sold out!)
Frank’s famous Malvasia, Moscadella, Insolia, and Nerello Mascalese Rosato blend – made with skin contact for texture and territorial identity, malolactic fermentation fully finished for density, fluidity and stability. A bright salmon pink. Intense perfumes of young fruits introduce sapidity and minerality. Drinking Window: 2023 – 2030
“I was privileged to taste the wine – Susucaru… bottom line is I taste this natural stuff and my eyes just lit up, some lightbulb went off and I feel like this is where the journey of life has taken me, and where I need to continue to explore.”
Action Bronson for Vice’s Munchies Series
2021 and 2019 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso
The Classic MunJebel Rosso is Frank’s vision of a traditional, balanced and rich Northern Valley Etna wine. A rich and fragrant wine of pure Nerello Mascalese from different vineyards, partly from their best parcels where we produce our crus (Zottorinoto-Chiusa Spagnolo, Feudo di Mezzo-sottana and Porcaria) as well as designated vineyards for this specific wine (Rampante Sottana, Piano Daini and Crasà).
2021: “Expressive and decidedly gentle and harmonious in the main profile, it shows notes of black plums, marjoram, lavender, hibiscus, black olives, strawberries, geraniums and white pepper. Medium body, creamy tannins of splendid elegant shape, perfectly polymerized and a finish of commendable beauty.”
94 Points WinesCritic.com
2021: “Seduces with a rich and sweetly scented bouquet of crushed black cherries, dried roses, and cloves. It’s silky in texture, enveloping all that it touches with ripe red fruits and spices, nicely framed by saturating minerality, as inner violet florals form toward the close. There are tannins here, but they don’t get in the way; instead, they create a perfectly dry platform where notes of lavender, plum and allspice hover above.”
92 Points Vinous
2020 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Bianco
Cornelissen’s first white wine started out as an orange wine, fermented with the skins for an extended period. Frank liked the tactile feeling and density, but missed the finesse and precision of the classic French white wines, so he changed the technique to search for the purity and flavours of Etna. This transpired as a short period of skin contact and ageing for an extended period in the coldest part of the cellar before bottling. The obtained elegance, purity and density makes this wine very suited to accompany a wide variety of dishes and cuisine, from fish to white meat. 50% Grecanico and 50% Carricante.
“It is beautifully pure for a natural wine, and while rich, almost oily, there is drive and persistence to the gingery, herbal and stonefruit flavours.”
Different Drop
New Year; New Frank! 🔥 Fresh drop from the Legendary Frank Cornelissen
You Loved 'em, We Listened - MORE Newly Arrived Wines from Legendary Frank Cornelissen
“What can I say, Frank Cornelissen is at the top of his game, [] and I can honestly say that I have never seen such precision, purity, and consistency as I’ve seen tasting the last few vintages. It all seems to have come to an apex with the 2019 crus.”
Eric Guido, for Vinous
Three years ago we excitedly blogged about the arrival of Frank Cornelissen, the demi-god of natural wines, to our D&N Portfolio, and in May, we got a very hot allocation of Frank’s 2019 vintage, including some of his PREMIUM single-vineyard MunJebel Rossos which you can read alllll about here…
NOW we have two fresh and highly anticipated drops hitting our cellar shelves… 2021 MunJebel Rosso & 2022 Susucaru Rosato!
So Are The 2019s Old News?
(No!)
While a number of Frank Cornelissen’s wines are accessible early – the ’22 Rosato being a prime example – a lot of Frank’s wines are designed to cellar for a few years, and in fact the 2019 Rossos are just coming into their prime drinking window now, and depending on the bottling, will likely remain so for another 5-10 years. (Which is amazing considering Frank considers this not a ‘cellar’ year!)
In a nutshell, the 2019s are from an ‘apex’ vintage for Frank, with highly rated bottlings across the entire range. (Not that Frank subscribes to the whole media-ratings vibe, he just has to put up with everyone loving him anyway.)
Don’t just take our word for it (but, really, do… they’re so delicious,) Dhall & Nash is currently filling seats at a premium masterclass for trade and an exclusive wine-matched dinner to showcase the immense calibre of the 2019 cuvées Frank has produced…
TL;DR: No, the 2019s are perfect RIGHT NOW!
“Quality- focused with natural being the inspiration, not the destination”
Jancis Robinson MW on Frank Cornelissen.
Will You Be Around?
We've a few tasting events on if you're around...
Frank's Turning Point
When the Belgian ex-Fine wine dealer came to Etna in 2001, his vision was that this is one of the few locations on Earth where wine could be made without any manipulation. Mistakes were made as he learned along the way, but with time, the style of Frank Cornelissen became renowned.
Still today, this is a winery that practices non-interventionist principles across their twenty-four hectares and eschews overhandling of the wines in the winery and cellar. However, there have been a number of changes to the process.
“My wines used to be anti-wines”
admits Cornelissen
The 2019 vintage is the first that Cornelissen has released under the new regime. SO² is a standard preservative that has been used in winemaking for centuries to protect grapes, must, and wine in its various stages against harmful yeasts and bacteria, as well as the negative impacts of oxygen. The decisions about whether to use SO², how much to use, and when, are open to infinite debate.
In a hot climate, however, where pH levels are high, the grapes, must, and wine have less natural in-built protection than lower-pH wines from cooler climates. The amount of SO² also needs to be higher than in a cooler climate for it to be effective. Cornelissen is adding 10mg/L at the first racking, with total SO² ending up at around 30mg/L, keeping free SO² at a minimum, under 5mg/L. He pointed out that his beloved Nerello Mascalese “likes to eat SO²” so free SO² levels are always exceptionally low.
“You have to be intellectually honest,” Cornelissen explains. “I am searching for quality and precision, so I either have to play with the pH or add SO². People think Etna wines are high acid, but it’s the minerals and the other components that give it that tension.”
Justifying his evolution, Cornelissen says;
“natural wine was a counter-reaction to an excess of enology: too much wood, too much extraction, too many chemicals. Natural wine will never be a category. To make it a category is to put it in a prison, which is the opposite of individualism. It’s uncategorizable, which is its greatest asset.”
Cornelissen considers his SO²-free winemaking experience was an extreme that now enables him to make decisions he would never have had the knowledge to make otherwise.
“If you haven’t gone over the edge, how do you know where the edge is? Now, after 20 years, I know where the edge is.”
Tl;DR: Frank pushed the boundaries a little more each year until he reached ‘the edge’, and in 2019 started pulling back some of his more ‘extreme’ winemaking approaches to come back to a place where it was about the wines, not necessarily the methodology.
Vintage Report
The 2019 Vintage: “After a disastrous 2018, we were ready for everything…but nature was gentle and treated us with impeccable fruit after a relatively balanced growing season. What a relief!
But looks deceive: although the picking was less stressful, we had trouble with uneven maturation within the clusters. The sorting table was very useful during this harvest for picking out the unevenly ripened clusters and increasing the quality at this stage.
The red wines have good tension and overall balance. Although this is not a cellar vintage, the phenolics are good, structure is present and these wines are a welcome relief after a terribly complicated 2018!
My preferred wine of this vintage: Munjebel Rosso “MC” for the smooth tannins, balance and elegance“
So if 2019 is so good, why buy these new ones?
Just because the 2019s are drinking superbly doesn’t mean you don’t want to get the jump on the 2021 and 2022 vintages!
Of the 2021 Vintage, the Magma and the MunJebel Rosso were Frank’s personal favourites, “for their overall balance.”
Frank sums up both the 2021 and 2022 vintages as ‘Very Good’ on his special scale. (Medium, Medium+, Good, Good+, Very Good, Very Good+, Great)
[Cornelissen is] “the most driven, ardent, zealous, perfection-oriented winemaker in the world”
Tom Hyland, The World of Fine Wine
The 2021 Vintage: “We lacked a real winter with no snow in the lower vineyards. The pruning of the vines and winter work was finished in time due to the many days of nice weather. In March, we had some frost damage (although very little.)
A very dry growing season overall put the young vines to a real stress test as well as our team to keep the new plantations alive with water. A really tough job on the terraces… We deliberately planted a new vineyard extremely late, in May, in order to get even a little rain.
Green harvest was done more severe for the vines to breath better and suffer less with the drought. The first grapes for the rosato arrived in the cellar on August 17th which was the earliest so far and we finished on October 16th picking the grapes for Magma, another record for early picking.
Yields were very low, especially in the beginning of the harvest. Finally at the beginning of October we had the rain to balance out the sugar/acidity and a week after, the fruit was starting to prepare for ripeness. Although at the start of the harvest, our calculations were going towards a 50% less production, we managed to balance the loss of yield and grapes out to around 25% due to the canopy management and sitting out the picking to get the necessary rain.
Although the reds have a relatively high Ph and lower than average acidity, the wines have grip, texture and personality. In the end, even in an extreme vintage like this, incredibly so, the wines are finding their balance.“
The 2022 Vintage: “We had a good winter with regular snow in the higher vineyards. The pruning of the vines and the winter works were finished in time as we invested in more people.
In March it was still quite cold while we were planting a new vineyard site in Contrada Scimonetta. April and May we had more humidity compared to the very dry 2021. The dry growing season started around June which put stress on the young vines which needed water in order to survive the summer, exactly like in 2021.
Strenuous summer work which has become a classic. On August 8th we had some rain which gave the vines energy again. Unfortunately we also caught hail in the middle which damaged some of the grapes.
End of August we had to pick the first grapes for the rosato as we had another hail blast which devastated a lot of the Muscat for the rosato. Magma was picked on October 11th.; again one week earlier compared to a record early in 2021… Yields were average to low.”
Our DN allocation of the 2021 MunJebel Rosso first arrived in late May, and since, we have sold over a quarter of the stock, as well as a good number of the single-vineyard premium cuvées. This lit a fire under us, and urged us to get more on a boat stat!
The 2022 Susucaru Rosato – we had to pry out of the hands of the logistics team who are completely in love with it! We won in the end and urge you not to sit on your laurels here, as the previous vintage was very popular and ran out of stock before we could even land the 2022!
TL;DR: the 2019 Rossos are good and are drinking perfectly due to having 4 years under their belt, but the 2021 is approachable even earlier and is drinking well already (and will also age well.) The Susucaru Rosato is also slamming as its made to be quaffable from the get-go. You can’t go wrong here.
“The greatest wines are the wines with personality. They have flaws that give them character. Great wines always have a quirk”
Frank Cornelissen
Frank Cornelissen - Newly Landed!
Explosive Wines of Energetic Purity & Precision
Frank Cornelissen MunJebel® Rosso 2021
Frank’s Fave!
The MunJebel is a blend of fruit from Frank Cornelissen’s vineyards across the northern valley of Etna. It aims to please, and it will excel at doing so through short-term cellaring.
94 points “Expressive and decidedly gentle and harmonious in the main profile, it shows notes of black plums, marjoram, lavender, hibiscus, black olives, strawberries, geraniums and white pepper. Medium body, creamy tannins of splendid elegant shape, perfectly polymerized and a finish of commendable beauty. Drink now.”
“Rich, powerful and driven by a core of minerality, it’s very hard to quantify what the experience of drinking Etna Rosso for the first time is. There is truly nothing like it in new-world wine, the tastes and aromas are so entwined with the soils and grapes indigenous to Etna, and so specific to the place.
Wild spices, complex fruit notes, the depth and singularity of this wine, makes the first experience, an epiphanic moment in a wine lover’s life.”
Different Drop
Frank Cornelissen Susucaru® Rosato 2022
Prior vintages sold out!
Frank’s famous Malvasia, Moscadella, Insolia, and Nerello Mascalese Rosato blend – made with skin contact for texture and territorial identity, malolactic fermentation fully finished for density, fluidity and stability.
A bright salmon pink. Intense perfumes of young fruits introduce sapidity and minerality. Drinking Window: 2023 – 2030
Frank Cornelissen Winery
“I was privileged to taste the wine – Susucaru… bottom line is I taste this natural stuff and my eyes just lit up, some lightbulb went off and I feel like this is where the journey of life has taken me, and where I need to continue to explore.”
Frank Cornelissen - The Lauded '19s
Frank Cornelissen Magma Rosso 2019
The Nerello Mascalese fruit for Magma hails from the Barbabecchi cru in the North valley between 870-910 metres, with its ungrafted vines that are over 100 years old. After a sixty-day maceration, the wine is vinified completely in neutral epoxy tanks, and the bottle hand-painted before release.
97+ points “It’s almost impossible to pull away from the 2019 Nerello Mascalese Magma Rosso, with its beguiling bouquet of white pepper-tinged dusty rose offset by nuances of tangerine, pomegranate, and the slightest hint of animal musk. This is a seriously textural expression, with smooth contours and admirable weight that’s perfectly balanced by stimulating acidity. Its fruit is decidedly red and sapid, yet with violet-tinged inner florals and sweet minerality. While structured, the 2019 maintains fantastic energy throughout the long yet remarkably fresh finale, as licorice and hints of hard candies slowly taper off into oblivion.” Drinking Window: 2023-30
Eric Guido, Vinous
(This one gets our D&N Fine Wines recommendation stamp to it 100%!)
96 points “This is the icon wine that Cornelissen has made since his first vintage from vines planted in 1910, now more than a century old. Lean, restrained, and transparent but dense, with a firm, structured character, and taut tannins. Tensile and throbbing with pent-up energy, like scooped-up dewdrops from cherry skins served over black lava rock, like something there and not there, this is a wine you can never quite pin down. More of an experience than just a wine.” Drink 2022-2030
Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso 2019
The Munjebel is a blend of fruit from Frank Cornelissen’s vineyards across the northern valley of Etna. It aims to please, and it will excel at doing so through short-term cellaring.
92 points “Seduces with a rich and sweetly scented bouquet of crushed black cherries, dried roses, and cloves. It’s silky in texture, enveloping all that it touches with ripe red fruits and spices, nicely framed by saturating minerality, as inner violet florals form toward the close. There are tannins here, but they don’t get in the way; instead, they create a perfectly dry platform where notes of lavender, plum and allspice hover above.” Drinking Window: 2021 – 2027
EricGuido, Vinous
Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso FM (Feudo di Mezzo Sottana) 2019
The Munjebel FM is 100% Nerello Mascalese produced from the lower elevations of the Feudo di Mezzo cru.
95 points “The entrancing 2019 Munjebel Rosso FM blossoms in the glass, with a dusty mix of sweet minty herbs and bright cherry complemented by a hint of cinnamon sugar. Its textures are like pure silk slowly draped across the palate, creamy, smooth, yet lifted and refined, delivering ripe red and hints of blue fruit under an air of lavender and violets. A pleasant inner sweet lingers on, along with a coating of fine tannins, as residual acids and hints of sour citrus maintain a lovely balance. The word “radiant” comes to mind and stays with me throughout the entire experience. Bravo. This is pure class.” Drinking Window: 2023 – 2028
Eric Guido, Vinous
Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso MC (Monte Colla) 2019
The Rosso MC is from the steeply-terraced Monte Colla vineyard, with its seventy five-year-old Nerello Mascalese vines planted in sandy clay soils.
94 points “is deep and inward in character, but also remarkably pretty. This dark beauty wafts up with dried cherries and crushed rocks complemented by nuances of rosemary and balsam. It greets the palate with the silkiest of textures and ripe wild berry fruits, yet with a core of nervous acidity that builds an energetic tension. This is like the proverbial iron fist in the velvet glove, tapering off long with talcum-like tannins, as sweet tobacco and lavender tones fade over a contrasting savory bitter twang of balsamic spice. It’s an utter beauty, and it’s already showing so well.” Drinking Window: 2023 – 2028
Eric Guido, Vinous
Frank Cornelissen MunJebel CR Contrada Campo Re 2019
The Campo Re hails from the western part of the northern slope of Etna at around 735 metres. The wine undergoes indigenous fermentation, followed by fifty days of maceration on skins and eighteen months of refinement in neutral epoxy tanks.
93+ points “Woodsy herbs and wet stone take on an air of white smoke and peppery florals as the 2019 Munjebel Rosso CR (Campo Re) unfolds in the glass. This takes its time, slowly opening, as wild strawberries, stems, and all, lazily come to the fore. It’s seamlessly silky and pliant upon entry, cool-toned as well, with a mounting saturation of red berries toward the close, adding an almost-chewy sensation. While structured with angular tannins, there’s a burst of inner sweetness that adds balance, as notes of fresh tobacco mix with licorice and hard red candies to create a finish that seems to linger on and on. The CR may be the longest lived of Cornelissen’s 2019 Rossos, but also the one that will take the most time to come around.” Drinking Window: 2024 – 2032
Eric Guido, Vinous
Frank Cornelissen MunJebel VA Cuveé (Vigne Alte) 2019
So hot off the docks, we’re still waiting on the reviewers to release their thoughts, but here’s some reviews of the 2019 release…
97 points “Here we are with ungrafted 90-year-old vines at altitudes of between 870–1,000m. Complex and multi-layered, with pistachio notes overlaying pristine damson and juicy pomegranate, with dark notes of savoury bitter greens, black garlic, dandelion leaves, and nettles. Wild and elemental in character, with long and intense flavours, this is a fine example of Cornelissen’s signature style.”
Robin Lee, The World of Fine Wine
16.5 /20 “A blend of ungrafted Nerello Mascalese from Cornelissen’s three highest vineyards (hence vigne alte): Tartaraci at 1,000m at Bronte, Barbabecchi at 910m and Rampante Soprana at 870m at Solicchiata. First made in 2010. Bright crimson with a restrained nose. Backward and very tannic. Not to my taste – too introvert and tough at the moment – but it may get there in the end. Certainly ambitious!” Drink 2025 – 2035
16.5/20 Jancis Robinson
Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Bianco 2020
The Munjebel Bianco wine is made in a super complex way with a brief 4-day skin maceration, giving the wine some density and tannins whilst also bringing out the wine’s stony aromatics and smoky taste. Stunning! Electric!
“A veiled yellow colour. Complex aromas of pineapple, mango, and peach. Orange zest, honey, and sweet spices. Fascinatingly rich and salty. An oily, gingery, herbal flavour with a stonefruit body.”
Frank Cornelissen Winery
“…the wines we tasted were precise and expressive, the Nerello Mascalese, his main red variety, transmitting the origin of the wines without any deviation due to winemaking. He is now set on the course of what he calls ‘high-fidelity’ winemaking.”
Julia Harding MW, for JancisRobinson.com
Taste the Volcano: A Frank Cornelissen Dinner @ The Grove
Are you ready to turn up the heat? Join us at The Grove this November, where we'll be sipping some of the most sought after luminary wines from the volcanic faces of Mount Etna in Sicily, in the finest degustation dining room in New Zealand. It's fire meets fire.
Six of Frank Cornelissen's wines will be expertly paired with a dish from the talented team at The Grove (menu to be confirmed).
Wine list:
- 2020 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Bianco (Carricante / Grecanico Dorato)
- 2022 Frank Cornelissen Susucaru Rosato (Cattaratto / Malvasia / Moscadella / Nerello Mascalese)
- 2019 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso (Nerello Mascalese)
- 2019 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso CR Contrada Campo Re (Nerello Mascalese)
- 2019 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso MC Monte Colla (Nerello Mascalese)
- 2019 Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso VA Cuvée Vigne Alte (Nerello Mascalese)
To reserve your seat/table for this special evening, you can contact your account manager, or reserve directly through The Grove here.
Seats are $345 inc GST per person.