Walter Massa FUSO Cala Terre Siciliane 2024

The Fuso project is a simple, honest premise: find the real-deal farmers—the ones who actually get dirt under their fingernails—and bottle their “daily drinkers” without the industrial makeup. This particular gem comes to us from Dario Serrentino, a grower in the white-limestone-rich Val di Noto who has a knack for making wines that feel like a cool breeze on a humid afternoon.

The 2024 “Cala” (Sicilian dialect for “grape”) is a clever blend that flips the script on traditional Sicilian reds. While Nero d’Avola provides the sun-drenched core of wild plum and brambly berries, a small addition of Grillo—a white grape—is co-fermented to provide a “light-switch” effect of acidity. The result isn’t a heavy, oak-laden bruiser, but a transparent, energetic red that vibrates with notes of dried hibiscus, sea salt, and a touch of Mediterranean scrub.

Vinified entirely in stainless steel with native yeasts and bottled with minimal sulfur, this is a wine that prizes drinkability over ego. It’s an essential education in what modern Sicilian viticulture looks like when you strip away the artifice.