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Frank Cornelissen

Susucaru Rosso Mag 2018

Price: $85.95
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Tasting notes

This is Nerello Mascalese at its most transparent: light ruby, high-toned red fruit, blood orange, and a flinty mineral spine that reads more like Pinot Noir from a volcano than anything else from southern Italy. The 30-day skin contact gives it texture without weight, and the zero-added-SO2 approach keeps the finish electric and alive. In a 1.5L magnum, the 2018 has had time to settle into something more composed than its early days.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
RaspberryBlood OrangeBlack PepperLicorice
  • Style: Dry, medium-bodied red; light ruby; red fruit, blood orange, black pepper, mineral; 13% ABV; 1.5L magnum
  • Grapes & Terroir: 85% Nerello Mascalese + Nerello Capuccio, Alicante Bouschet, Minella, Uva Francesa; organic; volcanic basalt soils; six contradas on Etna's northern valley, 600-1,000m elevation
  • Winemaking: Pied-de-cuve indigenous yeast fermentation; ~30 days skin contact; aged in neutral epoxy tanks (2,500-7,000L); no added SO2; unfined; light filtration
  • Serving: Serve at 58-62F; 30-45 min decant recommended; older vintages benefit from careful decanting
  • Pairing: Grilled lamb, swordfish, pasta alla Norma, aged pecorino, mushroom risotto
  • Similar To: For fans of lighter-styled Pinot Noir and Gamay who want volcanic terroir and saline minerality

Frank Cornelissen's Susucaru Rosso is a field blend sourced from six contradas on Etna's northern valley: Picciolo, Malpasso, Campo Re, Crasà, Piano Daini, and Feudo di Mezzo. The blend is approximately 85% Nerello Mascalese with Nerello Capuccio, Alicante Bouschet, Minella, and Uva Francesa filling out the rest. Vines are trained in the traditional Sicilian alberello (bush vine) system on volcanic basalt soils. The wine is bottled under the Terre Siciliane IGT designation; Cornelissen deliberately avoids the Etna DOC classification.

Fermentation begins with a pied-de-cuve using only indigenous yeasts, followed by roughly 30 days of skin contact. The wine ages in neutral epoxy tanks ranging from 2,500 to 7,000 liters. No sulfur dioxide is added at any point, and the wine is bottled unfined with only light filtration.

The 2018 vintage shows light ruby with a slightly translucent core. On the nose: fresh raspberry, blood orange, and a thread of black pepper and licorice. The palate is dry with bright, high acidity, fine-grained tannins, and a long mineral finish. This is a 1.5L magnum format, which provides exceptional aging potential and slower development than the standard bottle.

Susucaru is Cornelissen's entry-level red and the most approachable wine in his range, built to express Etna's multi-contrada character rather than a single vineyard site. It previously appeared as Rosso del Contadino before the rename in 2016.

Serve with roasted lamb chops, grilled swordfish with capers and tomato, or pasta alla Norma with aged ricotta salata. The wine's acidity and fine tannins also cut well through aged Sicilian pecorino. A slight chill to around 58-60F brings out the red fruit and keeps the alcohol in check.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Red Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Capuccio, Alicante Bouschet, Minella, Uva Francesa
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2018
Alcohol:, 13%
Country:, Italy
Region:, Sicily
Appellation:, Terre Siciliane IGT
Bottle Size:, 1500ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Frank Cornelissen

Frank Cornelissen was born in Belgium and grew up around wine as the son of a wine broker. He moved to Sicily in 2000 and established his estate in 2001, beginning with 0.40 hectares of ungrafted old-vine Nerello Mascalese in Contrada Barbabecchi. He had no formal winemaking training when he arrived. His first wines, including the flagship Magma, were intentionally oxidative expressions he described as 'liquid rock.' Over time his approach shifted toward preserving Etna's aromatic precision, and the wines became more fruit-forward and balanced while remaining free of commercial additives.

The estate now covers approximately 24 hectares on Etna's northern valley, between 600 and 1,000 meters above sea level. Of that area, 13 hectares are planted in the traditional alberello (bush vine) system on their own roots, ungrafted. Vines include Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Capuccio, Alicante Bouschet, Minella, Uva Francesa, Malvasia, Moscadella, Carricante, and Grecanico Dorato. Farming is organic, using methods drawn from permaculture and agroforestry, with no herbicides, pesticides, or synthetic chemicals. Cornelissen has described his philosophy as observing nature rather than imposing on it.

In the cellar, Cornelissen ferments each vineyard parcel separately using indigenous yeasts started via a pied-de-cuve. Susucaru Rosso undergoes approximately 30 days of skin contact following destemming and light crushing. Aging takes place in neutral epoxy-lined tanks from 2,500 to 7,000 liters, which preserve fruit character without imparting oak or oxidative notes. No sulfur dioxide is added at any stage. Wines are bottled unfined with only light filtration. Earlier vintages had a reputation for instability in bottle; Cornelissen's technical refinements over the years have improved consistency while maintaining the wines' raw, unfiltered character.

Wine region

Sicily, Italy

Sicily is Italy's largest island and largest wine region by vineyard area, with approximately 98,000 hectares under vine and a winemaking history predating Roman settlement. The island sits off the toe of the Italian peninsula in the central Mediterranean, separated from Calabria by the Strait of Messina. Its climate is warm and dry across most of the island, but Mount Etna in the northeast creates a distinct alpine microclimate with significantly higher rainfall and a longer, cooler growing season than the surrounding lowlands. Etna's vineyards range from roughly 400 to over 1,000 meters above sea level, with the upper sites producing the most structured and aromatic wines.

Sicily holds 23 DOC appellations and one DOCG, Cerasuolo di Vittoria. The island-wide Sicilia DOC and the Terre Siciliane IGT are the two broadest classifications, with the IGT offering producers flexibility on grape varieties and techniques. The Etna DOC, established in 1968 as Sicily's first DOC, governs wines from Etna's slopes; Etna Rosso requires a minimum of 80% Nerello Mascalese. Cornelissen bottles Susucaru under the Terre Siciliane IGT rather than the Etna DOC, as the blend of multiple contradas and grape varieties falls outside DOC conventions he prefers not to be bound by. The northern valley of Etna, where Cornelissen farms, is widely considered the top sub-zone for red wines, with named contrade comparable in concept to Burgundy's premier cru vineyard sites.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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