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Cantina Frank Cornelissen
Frank Cornelissen's entry-level Etna red: 85% Nerello Mascalese plus four local grapes from six vineyards on the volcano's north side. About a month on the skins, neutral tanks, no fining. Fragrant, light in colour, smoky red fruit. Drink it young.
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Frank Cornelissen blends 85% Nerello Mascalese with four other local grapes from six vineyards on the north side of Etna. The wine spends about a month on its skins and rests in neutral tanks. No oak gets in the way. Expect strawberry and cherry, smoke and ash, and a peppery edge.
Strawberry and sour cherry come first. Then comes the smoke and ash of a red grown on Etna's lava terraces. Behind the fruit sit black pepper, a twist of orange peel and a little liquorice. It stays fragrant rather than heavy: Frank Cornelissen keeps the wine in neutral tanks, so no oak gets near it.
Smoky
Orange peel
Cherry
Red forest berries
Strawberry
Wet stones
Black pepper
LiquoriceLight in colour and light on its feet. Fresh acidity and fine, dusty tannin come from about a month on the skins. The fruit stays red and crunchy. This is 85% Nerello Mascalese with four other local grapes, all from old vines on the north side of the volcano. Nothing in the cellar rounds it off. At 13% alcohol it is not a big wine.
Savoury and dry at the end, with smoke and wet stone lasting longer than the fruit. A faint prickle of gas on opening is normal for a wine bottled with so little sulphur. It blows off in the glass.
This is the estate's entry wine, great value by the producer's own account, and made to drink young. Open the 2025 between 2026 and 2029, with food rather than on its own. Drinkers keep coming back to its red fruit with a smoky, earthy edge, and that is exactly what you get. It is a true taste of Etna from a grower who has farmed the volcano since 2001.
So there is no second price to compare. One other shop carries the 2024 but is out of stock today. For a Terre Siciliane IGT red, that price sits below the middle of what UK shops ask.
Its strongest cards are Food and Value: a light, fresh red that goes with most of a Sicilian table, at a fair price for a wine from this grower.
A light, fragrant red with fresh acidity, fine tannin and no oak. It goes from grilled fish to lamb without a fight, which is rare for a red.
The producer itself calls Susucaru its value wine, next to a far dearer single-vineyard range.
Light, fresh and 13% alcohol, a weeknight red in style. Only the price keeps it from being a daily pour.
Easy to like for its strawberry fruit and light body. The smoke, the slight haze and a possible prickle of gas are natural-wine traits a first-timer may not expect.
An IGT entry wine, so not a show-off bottle. It is the way in to a grower whose top wine has scored 99.
An entry wine the producer says is best young: drink 2026 to 2029, with no gain in complexity from longer keeping.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.
A compact view of what the Terre Siciliane denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
The 2025 was picked in autumn 2025 and released within a year, which is how Frank Cornelissen treats this wine. Early reports from Etna pointed to a good year: an excellent store of water from the winter, a regular spring and summer and a few hot spells in July. Drink it from 2026 to 2029 while the fruit is fresh. The 2024, on the producer's own report, was a dry, balanced year with clean fruit.
Early reports from Etna pointed to a good 2025: an excellent store of water from the winter, a regular spring and summer and a few hot spells in July. Picked in autumn 2025 and bottled young, it is best from 2026 to 2029.
Early reports from Etna pointed to a good 2025: an excellent store of water from the winter, a regular spring and summer and a few hot spells in July. Picked in autumn 2025 and bottled young, it is best from 2026 to 2029.
Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.
Frank Cornelissen started on the north side of Etna in 2001. He farms about 24 hectares, 13 of them old bush vines, with the aim of no sprays at all. Susucaru Rosso is the estate's entry wine, 35,000 bottles a year. It still drew 94 points from Kerin O'Keefe for the 2017.
Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.
Terre Siciliane is in the IGT tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.
Terre Siciliane falls within Sicily.
Winery
Castiglione di Sicilia
Wine area
Producer: Cantina Frank Cornelissen, Castiglione di Sicilia. Directions
Frank Cornelissen farms about 24 hectares, 13 of them old free-standing bush vines. He sprays only in years that would otherwise kill the vines. Bush vines like these are worked by hand, which costs more than machine farming.
The producer's own vintage report records about 70% of the crop lost to mildew, hail and drought in 2023. Years like that are paid for across the whole range, this entry wine included.
Susucaru Rosso rests in large neutral tanks rather than barrels. It is the estate's entry wine at 35,000 bottles a year, which keeps it well under the price of the single-vineyard MunJebel and Magma wines.
Kerin O'Keefe scored the 2017 at 94. Of the two UK shops that carry it, only one has stock today. Demand like that holds the price up even for the estate's entry wine.
This is a pale, fragrant red with fresh acidity and fine tannin, so it works where a heavy red would not. Frank Cornelissen himself suggests fish with a young Etna red, and braised meat once it has a few years. In between sit tomato pasta, lamb off the grill and mushroom risotto.
Nerello Mascalese's fresh acidity meets the acidity of cooked tomato head on, so neither tastes sour. The light tannin leaves fried aubergine and salted ricotta tasting clean rather than heavy. A pale, fragrant Etna red like Susucaru Rosso does this. A big oaked red would flatten the dish.
Try with: Pasta alla Norma · Pizza Margherita · Sfincione, Sicilian Pizza · Pasta arrabbiata · More pairings →
Lamb has enough flavour to stand up to the smoke and pepper in the wine. The wine's light body does not crowd the meat. Fine tannin from a month on the skins grips the fat just enough, and Nerello Mascalese's sour-cherry fruit lifts the richness.
Try with: Lamb chops · Leg of lamb · Rack of lamb · Lamb shank · More pairings →
The smoke, ash and forest-floor side of the wine echoes mushrooms and truffle, so the two taste like one dish. The fresh acidity keeps a buttery risotto from feeling heavy. A light, earthy Etna red such as Susucaru Rosso suits this better than a sweeter, riper red.
Try with: Porcini mushroom risotto · Truffle risotto · Tagliatelle al tartufo di Acqualagna · Radicchio risotto · More pairings →
Salt softens the wine's fine tannin and makes its strawberry fruit taste riper. Nerello Mascalese's acidity rinses oil and salt between bites. That makes a light Etna red a good start to a meal: fried rice balls, a stuffed Sicilian cheese, bread with oil.
Try with: Arancini · Caciocavallo farcito · Pecorino sardo e pan carasau · Focaccia · More pairings →
Frank Cornelissen himself suggests fish with a young Etna red. The wine's acidity cuts the oil of swordfish or tuna. Its fine, low tannin does not clash with the flesh the way a heavy red would. Smoke in the glass meets char from the grill.
Try with: Pesce spada alla Siciliana · Polpo alla pignata · Tuna · Vitello Tonnato · More pairings →
Chilli heat makes the wine's alcohol burn and strips out its delicate strawberry fruit. Sweet sauces make a dry, fresh red like Susucaru Rosso taste thin and sour. Keep it away from madras-level heat and sugary glazes. Pick a softer, off-dry Italian white such as a Moscato d'Asti instead.
Skip with: Chicken madras · Sweet and sour pork · Chicken jalfrezi · Szechuan chicken · Pairing guide →
Susucaru Rosso is made to drink young: open the 2025 between 2026 and 2029. The producer says this fruity, fresh wine does not gain complexity with age. He asks for storage below 16°C because it carries so little preservative. A faint prickle on opening is normal; a short spell in a decanter clears it.
For the main offer above.
A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.
Aim for the cooler end on a warm day; warmer end opens up more aromatics.
An entry wine the producer says is best young: drink 2026 to 2029, with no gain in complexity from longer keeping.
£25.00 for a 75cl bottle of the 2025, at XtraWine, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page several times a week. Last refresh: 6 Nov 2026, 04:27 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighDrawn from published drinker ratings, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.
Confidence · MediumFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur reading of the price, from how this wine is made, UK duty and VAT and the price shops charge for it today. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.
Confidence · MediumThe drinking years for the main offer apply to its 2025 vintage. Treat them as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumSusucaru Rosso is 85% Nerello Mascalese, with Nerello Cappuccio, Alicante Bouschet, Minnella and Uva Francesa making up the rest. It is a field blend made the traditional Etna way, mixing several grapes and several vineyard sites. The grapes come from six of the estate's vineyards on the north side of the volcano. The producer labels it Terre Siciliane IGT.
Susucaru is Catania dialect for 'they have stolen it', and also 'they have eagerly eaten or drunk it'. Frank Cornelissen heard the word from a picker in 2004. The crew had arrived to find the last grapes gone from the vines. He registered it as a name and used it first on the 2007 rosato. The red took the name with the 2017 vintage, when the wine once called Contadino was renamed.
Yes. It ferments on wild yeasts, spends about a month on its skins, rests in neutral tanks and is never fined. Sulphur is kept between 15 and 50 mg per litre, added or not, depending on the year. The producer's aim is no vineyard treatments at all. Copper and sulphur are used only in years that would otherwise kill the vines. A light filtration before bottling is the one cellar step a strict purist might notice.
Drink the 2025 between 2026 and 2029. Frank Cornelissen says this fresh, fruity wine shows at its best young, on its vibrant fruit. It does not gain complexity with age. Store it below 16°C: the producer asks for that because the wine carries so little preservative.
So there is no price to compare between shops. The 2024 appears at one other shop but is out of stock at the moment.
A little fizz is normal. The wine is bottled with low or no added sulphur and can hold some gas left from fermentation. If it is noticeable, chill the bottle to about 7 to 10°C and pour it into a decanter. The prickle blows off within a short while. A slight haze is normal too, because the wine is only lightly filtered and never fined.
6 retailers
Terre Siciliane
6 retailers
£44.00
+ delivery
6 retailers
Terre Siciliane
6 retailers
£44.90
+ delivery
5 retailers
Terre Siciliane
5 retailers
£41.00
+ delivery
5 retailers
Terre Siciliane
5 retailers
£36.00
+ delivery
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