Ciro Biondi - 2019 "Outis" Etna Rosso

Beta Offer #8 of 18 

Type: Red

Bottom Line Up Front - Is there a more universally revered Etna wine producer than Ciro Biondi? I don’t think so, not after debating top producers with a few too many wine geeks in Sicily last week. Ciro and Stephanie’s “Outis” Etna Rosso always impresses, and this 20th anniversary 2019 bottling is an extraordinary example. My notes while tasting: “Bright red fruits, salinity, lovely volcanic nose, more persistent than 2018, elegant light tannins. Everything in place.”

(To order, just click the link above and follow the prompts, or scroll to the end of this message for step-by-step instructions.)

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Fellow wine geeks,

When looking for wines to offer, I sometimes find myself thinking about new producers through the lens of a U.S. high school student applying to colleges. The high schooler has safety schools and reach schools; Open Tuesday has safety wine producers and reach wine producers.

We’re delighted to report that we’ve gotten into a lot of our reach schools, and you’re being offered a lot of reach wines. We have good reason to believe this will continue.

Ciro Biondi is a bit different. Offering Ciro’s wines to our members is like getting into Stanford with a 3.2 GPA. It simply doesn’t happen unless you know someone (or play for the basketball team.) While you might not advertise getting into Stanford through a connection, we are happy to admit that a fortunate connection made this offer possible. Many moons ago, Open Tuesday member Joe Beadles and his wife Jill became friends with Ciro and Stephanie when Joe was stationed at Naval Air Station Sigonella, in Sicily. Joe now works with my wine geek buddy Kirk Karver, who put us in touch. (Thanks again, Kirk and Joe!)

It’s not just that Ciro’s wines are elegant and pure and layered and inspiring. There’s something else about them. You feel lucky when drinking a bottle. In Sicily, wine people are starting to speak about Ciro Biondi in hushed tones. That only happens when bottles are hard to find - too many people chasing too few bottles. This dynamic often leads to skyrocketing prices, but we don’t see that happening with Ciro’s wines (yet?) These wines still offer incredible value compared to other Etna wines.

How cool is this vineyard flyover? https://www.ibiondi.com/

Also, please transport yourself to Sicily by way of these photos: https://www.ibiondi.com/copia-di-home.

Ciro and Stephanie only produce about 20 thousand bottles per year. Here’s Azienda Agricola Ciro Biondi on the map of Sicily: BIONDI Azienda Agricola

Outis takes its name from the Greek word for “no one.” In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus famously used the term as a pseudonym to fool the Cyclops Polyphemus and escape an island thought to be Sicily. Ciro and Stephanie use the term for their Etna Rosso and Etna Bianco because they felt like “nobodies” when they started making wines in 1999. The wine’s subtitle, “Nessuno,” means “no one” in Italian.

This Outis Rosso comes from 80% Nerello Mascalese grapes and 20% Nerello Cappuccio. Many of the vines grow on a volcanic crater dating back to the eruption in 125 AD.

Stephanie served this Outis Rosso with mixed antipasti, including dried tomatoes, locally grown olives, and a Pepato fresco (Sicilian sheep’s milk cheese with peppercorns.) She also recommends pairing it with duck or seared tuna. 

Anything that goes with Pinot Noir would work too. To me, that means pork chops.

Ciro Biondi - 2019 "Outis" Etna Rosso

14% alcohol by volume

(To order, just click the link above and follow the prompts.)

Happy Tuesday,

Chris

(I know what you are thinking. Which beta offers are from one of Open Tuesday’s “safety” wine producers? The answer is...none to date, and we have good reason to believe this won’t change.)

If you have any questions or feedback, please email us: [email protected].  

How it works: 

After clicking one of the two links above, you’ll be able to request 1-12 bottles. Actually, that’s all you have to do!

About a week later, when we close the offer, you’ll get an email confirming how many bottles we allocated to your account. We will charge you when the wines are allocated.

We’ll do our best to allocate all the bottles you request. But when there are more requests than bottles available, we’ll allocate one bottle to all requesting members before allocating a second bottle to anyone. We want as many members as possible to try these wines.

This Ciro Biondi 2019 Outis is offer number eight of 18 during the spring private beta test. We are sending offers on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday for six straight weeks (starting on 3/29).

We encourage you to ship in increments of 12. With 18 offers in this tranche, there should be plenty of chances to get to 12, 24, or 36. If you don’t have an increment of 12 at the end of the beta test, we will get in touch.

Wines from the beta tranche will ship in late May-early June for $5 per bottle (if you have an increment of 12.) This is about the same as the price to ship coast-to-coast within the U.S. - but our wines come directly from Italy.

Once your payment method is on file, you can make future requests with just a few clicks from the offer email. If you don’t have a card on file, you can add one during your first order. Your personal financial information is protected by Stripe.

Chris MacLean

Rob Genova

Open Tuesday Wines S.r.l.s.

Via Augusto Anfossi 19, 20135 Milano - Italy