Azienda Agricola Frank Cornelissen, Rosso Contadino, Sicily

Strawberry rhubarb; ripe, not sticky. Cool stone edifice. All this sweetness has to go somewhere. There is a familiar standoff between jamtastic raw foraged fruit extracts, on the one hand, and god given mineral and tannic stability, on the other hand. I want to file this alongside the Des Tours portfolio of Vaucluse and Cotes du Rhone wines. One could guess they are aromatized. This wine is thriving. It tasted fresher than the average just-bottled wine destined for fine dining. …

2015 vintage

I believe this is my last bottle of the case, and I'm glad I didn't wait any longer. It still has just a bit of the juicy freshness it once did, but it's fading. This doesn't appear to be a wine for long aging, but it held up admirably this long for what it is. I don't think Cornelissen makes wines the way he used to, having given up the hyper-natural route. I know that there are a lot of …

2015 vintage

Last bottle, glad I didnt wait any longer. Still holds up nicely, seamingly from a varm vintage. "Cat piss" nose pnp. Now I really know what people are talking about with the glue / VA. I still can find it on day 3. Holds up, but does not develop over the days. Diffuse fruit. Still loving the second half with the dusty brick acidity, terracotta lingering tannins.

2015 vintage

Love. Years pass, still such a beauty. Every time I remember how much this benefits with a couple hours there. I’ve got just one left in this note is to remind me to please decant it. Tangy, deep, and funky. Such a meaningful true wine. Such a special place in my heart.

2015 vintage

These are drinking great with absolutely no sign of age whatsoever. That surprises me a bit because this wine is a lot like fruit juice, all zippy freshness. I wondered how that would hold up, but it's been great. Despite the winemaker's reputation, there is absolutely no funk or flaw in this wine (I like a fair degree of funk in wine, but not all do). Really just excellent, unique stuff. Not what you want all the time but occasionally …

2015 vintage

Delicious bottle. I worried about how these would hold up over time, since the fresh, juicy, forward quality is the best part of the wine, but thus far it's still drinking just great. Took a risk on a case of this never having had it before, and glad I did.

2015 vintage

Mogen jordgubb, apelsinskal, lite suröl, gott.

2015 vintage

Pairing this favorite and unique wine with red lentil, curry, coconut cream soup. I give the wine and soup each an outstanding A and the pairing a very good B+. Drinkable on PnP but I recommend decanting for hours if possible.

2015 vintage

Enjoyed these, last bottle.

2015 vintage

Wife called it bong water.

2015 vintage

A wine deserving of solstice, deserving of the night before a destination birthday, deserving of letting good things soak in. A wine of soul.

2015 vintage

Enjoyable. Friend called it bong water.

2015 vintage

The first nose; funky shit Then on the pallet; holy shit And the rest of the bottle; shit, is it gone already?

2015 vintage

Enjoyable.

2015 vintage

Enjoyable.

2015 vintage

Served Blind, and got this one spot on. Good acidity shown from italian origin, Slight fizz and ethereal body from natural wine making, Bright red berries and tons of minerality showing the combination of (nerello mascalese + Sicily + Frank Cornelissen) Better on the 2nd day, but the stuffing is not up to that from other top class natural wines. Very quaffable, but is it really pleasurable? Often times, to me, Cornelissen wines from Sicily show more mineralities than fruits, …

2015 vintage

Wine geek alert! If you like our wine deep ruby or deep purple and crystal clear, avoid this one. Nerello Mascalese based, macerated for 60 days and made in a neutral vessels. No fining and a very gentle filtration. Pale color. Funky nose with a hint of VA at first. The palate is fresh but well structured at the same time. Overall: Superb wine for open-minded.

2015 vintage

Enjoyable.

2015 vintage

Fresh, light pizza wine.

2015 vintage

Again, this is just wine as fruit juice. That may sound like an obvious and redundant statement, but that's what it feels like. Interesting, and not what you want all the time, but quite good when you're in the mood for it, and dangerously crushable.

2015 vintage

nose - catsup, sauerkraut. per ross kitty litter mouth - savory natural style wine, frizante. pink grapefruit. flawed vs not depending on your perspective.

2015 vintage

Quite different and interesting but not to my liking.

2015 vintage

Ultra-appealing bouquet is fascinating and unique at first and then acceleratingly sweet, eventually adding sweaty complexity. Sweet vivacious fruit, wintergreen, lemon sweet-tart, then a lingering gentle fruit sweetness that trails off to first a bitter drop, then lingering tartcherry, and finally a quiet return to sweets theme.

2015 vintage

Continue to really like this wine in this vintage. Needs a bit of a chill.

2015 vintage

Lighter in color. Unusual appearance of crimson-apple color with considerable turbidity. Aromatic and cherry nose. Members of our party were mixed- some viewed as undrinkable. Waiter in Turin restaurant recommended but I don't believe him that this is Nerello Mascalese based.

2015 vintage

Volatile nose with notes of rhubarb, baked strawberries, orange rind, smoke, clove and thyme. Light to medium bodied palate with good meaty weight, supple tannins and sharp acidic bite. Dry, complete, mouth filling and complex. Notes of smoke, meat and juniper. Lengthy. Beautifully aged and highly enjoyable.

A field blend of different white and red varieties, based on the vintage 2006, made completely without sulfites. Initially cloudy, almost murky pink color with purple highlights, but quickly settles into a pale, translucent cranberry juice red color. Rather subtle, but very complex, lifted nose of leathery funk, sweet volatile notes, dried prunes, some lambic-like sourness, a little volcanic smokiness and a hint of diethyl ether from the alcohol (15%). The nose is definitely sweet and ripe, but far from …

As much as I love to add my 2 cents to the wines I drink on CellarTracker, what is there to say that hasn'ta already been said. For once, I actually agree with every single tasting note to some degree or another. I found the wine intense on day one. less effervescent on day two and more enjoyable. This is a highly engaging and interesting drinking experience for the price and unlike any "wine" I've ever tasted.

An interesting wine that gets points for uniqueness, but not sure I would repurchase. Tart, with sour rose petals, orange and citrus elements. It kept my interest, but I think this needs food. Having it by itself made it a bit shrill.

Not decanted (per bottle's recommendation - no sulfites added). Look: '07 vivid red with some fine sediment. Nose: Celary! Taste: Cherry, rhubarb, and lt. strawberry. Not everyone can get beyond the nose I suspect, but some fun juice underneath. Prefer Marc DeGrazie's '09 Etna Rosso version (and of course any of his single vineyard bottles), but hopefully I'll get around to sampling his culty Magma as well. 87 pts.

Le chateaubriand (Paris) : 90 f: brun rött. Som skadad madeira. D: ättika, kemiskt , karlssons klister. S: lite sur besk med bitter finish. Bittermandel. Strävheten mot surheten. Medium finish.

Either I'm getting way too used to these wines, or this has mellowed dramatically in the last few years, and can now pass as an almost "normal" wine. I'm thinking the latter, and being that my wife didn't balk at it, this seems to confirm it. To all those that say wine needs sulfur to keep together, this is now 5 years past harvest and still perfectly in tact, with years ahead of it still. I will say the aromas …

Wonderfully aromatic, with complex mix of various spices and fruits, and a hint of pine. My enthusiasm waned after that though. Bitter orange peel flavor dominates, with more pleasant fruit and spice in the background. Great length, but that's only a good thing if you like holiday fruitcake.

Weird. Chris got this as Nerello Mascarese and probably from Etna - some nice blind tasting indeed. Tim thought it was indeed some sort of natural wine. Certainly very interesting to drink, but a bit difficult to rate - tannic, funky, fruity, hints of orange marmalade and homebrew. Unique. Two "homemade" wines on the one night!

Decanted off the sediment. This wine is substantially darker than the first bottle I opened two years ago, and it does seem to also darken in the glass. It started out incredibly rancid smelling on the nose, but I knew that would blow off. After 30 minutes or so, it began expressing aromas of burnt sugar, burnt porcelain, orange zest, ground up rocks, and perhaps a rubber band. Palate attacks with acidity, apple cider vinegar, and then charges forth with …

Calling this flawed would be generous, I have had good bottles of this wine, but this was like pickle juice but less pleasant and I have had these wines at a perfect cellar temp since they were purchased. I tried to wait for it to come around, hoping for the best, but there was simply no recovery. I am sure more care is put into the Munjabel wines than the Contadino because you read about fewer flaws but it's a …

After around a half dozen bottles of different Cornelissen offerings ranging from foul to interesting at best, and just when I was about to give up on the whole range, along comes this bottle. Clearly related to the others with its orangish turbidity and tartness, this one offers a bit of sweetness and a sense of fruit. Did I get lucky? Will the next bottle disappoint? Have I started to "ge it?" Stay tuned. . . .

Good? Bad? Fun? Awful? Interesting - to say the least. I think its good. VERY ACIDIC. Absolutely needs to be drank with food - not on its own. Very mouth drying so go with some cheese as well. Interesting and fun to drink.

Fun and easy to drink, I recommend putting these wines through an aerator if they are spritzy, it brings out another dimension in the wines, more so than I have ever seen an aerator do. I could see how some people would not like this wine or the genre/producer, but I am a huge fan and I don't care about hype surrounding a particular wine, I was prepared to be disappointed. The fruit is not forthcoming, its buried under flavors …

very similar to my last bottle. Developed dramatically over 4 hour or so. While it didn't taste hot, it certainly packed a punch. I enjoy these wines for their uniqueness, and this was surprisingly good with some aged cheddar. Not much sediment in this bottle.

Hell (braun)roter, oxidierter Frabton, "trübe Brühe" mit enorm viel Schwebteilchen/Sediment. Wow - an der Nase wieder diese unbeschreiblich wild-animierenden, oxidativen Noten; diesmal mit Pfirsich-, Apfel-, Holunderbeernoten, Blütenduft, Jod. Mittlerer Körper, mittlere, kräftige Tannine, langer Abgang, eine spannende Mischung von ungewöhnlichen Variationen am Gaumen! Immer gerne wieder!

This isn't natural winemaking, this is a trainwreck. The amount of sediment isn't "the product of natural methods" it's a product of "not racking clean." This wine is hot, stewed, weedy, and features the most VA of any wine I've ever had. And that is before you taste it. On the palate it is tart, pickled and super green, while maintaining the heat. Hurts to swallow. One of the worst wines I've ever purchased, this shouldn't be considered a commercially …

Viel Schmodder, so daß Dekantieren/Filtrieren not tut! Mürbe oxidiertes braunrot mit reichlich Wasserrand. An der Nase aber dieses typische, gehaltvolle und trinkanimierende Zusammenspiel der oxidativen Ausprägung mit Jod, mehligem Apfel, schneidenden Holunderbeeren, Johannisbeere, Erdbeere und Kräutern, etwas Zimt. Am Gaumen nicht ganz so konzenttriert wie der Munjebel. Aber ab und an freue ich mich auf diese Naturweine, in die man sich hineintrinkt, die einen einlullen und die unbeschwerte Leichtigkeit des Seins kosten lassen! In herkömmlichen Skalen nicht bewertbar, aber immer …

Opened for an out of country friend who's a Burgundy importer to really throw him for a loop. This was after an evening of craploads of food and wine, and we were all pretty tired by the time we came to this, and thusly couldn't really wait for it to open up. The last bottle I noted this really needed at least an hour to clean itself up, and we couldn't wait that long. The friend stated this wine seemed …

Hazy orange-red, spritzy and full of sediment; obviously a non-interventionist and actively evolving substance. Gloriously complex nose of cinnamon, woodsmoke, charcoal, pomegranate, tar, and hazelnut. There's a funny kinship with Lapierre's Morgon in this wine's funky/fresh/sweet profile. Sweet, juicy and delicious flavors are so much cleaner than I was led to expect. But there's still a distinctive purity at play, and this ends on a malty twist that signifies its individualistic bent. Unbelievable for an entry level wine; this makes …

Stinky. Pickles and sulfur on the nose, and huge amounts of sharply acidic pickle juice on the palate. I like to think I have an adventurous palate, but this was nasty.

My bottle had very little sediment in it - which seemed odd to me based on the other reviews. Orange Peel, cloves, and cinnamon (I agree with other taster that it smelled like the holidays). I've had the other Cornelissen 06's and this one was the most approachable and a huge hit with my brother-in-law. More than anything I've had recently, this wine was just fun to experience. Looking forward to the 07s!

Don't know how to rate this but, what the hell, I'm giving it a 90. I mean, what is an unfiltered, unfined, sediment-laden Nerello Mascalese from Etna supposed to taste like?? This one smelled of the holidays with orange peel, mace, cinnamon, and clove. The flavors were spicy cranberry and pomegranate. Best with food, I think this would be excellent with pizza, actually. Chill it down some, and let it warm up and the aromas and flavors will bloom (we …

Cloudy and murky pink Barbie wine. Citrusy, grapefruit rind and pomegranate. Spritzig in evidence for initial 30 minutes. Tangy, well balanced with sharp acid. Soft finish. More fruit arrives with black berry blended with mulled beets. Tomato juice finish. A wonderful, oddball wine.

Wow, this is an unusual one. Loads of almost sandy sediment, and a very unusual taste, somewhat sour even. While it was an experience, I wouldn't say I am particularly excited about the 2nd bottle of this that we have. I wonder whether the sourness was maybe a sign that it was spoiled, or if that's just part and parcel of this very unusual, unfiltered natural wine.

Are you sure?

Azienda Agricola Frank Cornelissen, Rosso Contadino, Sicily

Vintages

No vintages

Community Reviews