Territory
Etna and its unique terroir
The Culture of Wine on Etna
Ancient legends, accounts by travelers and naturalists, works of art, poems and stories are evidence from the earliest times of viticulture on Mount Etna. Here the very special microclimate and fertile volcanic soil provide an ideal setting for vines. Since the time of the Siculians, three thousand years ago, vines and wine have always been central to the lives of Etnean men. And little has changed from the dawn of history until the 20th century in the gestures and manners of winemakers. The lever presses used until a few years ago look the same as those described by Cato in 160 BC. Sapling cultivation has remained unchanged for thirty centuries, and everywhere we still find the quincunx planting system-each vine has equal distance from those around it-that was dear to the Greeks and Romans.
A Landscape Born from Wine
In the nineteenth century, Etna was Sicily’s most important wine-growing area: vineyards occupied more than half the land and reached altitudes above 1,000 meters. Wine continually shapes the landscape: black lava stone terraces allow vines to climb into increasingly inaccessible places. The Circumetnea railway is built to facilitate the transport of wine to the port of Riposto. From there it would leave, in bulk, for all of Europe and the world.
Rebirth
Phylloxera, an unfair tax regime and the emigration of many farmers almost succeeded in putting an end to this history with such ancient roots. Only in the last two decades has the work of an enlightened few, such as our winemaker Salvo Foti, enabled the rebirth of wine on Etna, allowing it to take its rightful place among the great European terroirs.
The Territory
Etna constantly regenerates itself, and causes new life and culture to be generated: frequent eruptions never make it the same as it was, and the same force has the work of the men who persist in inhabiting the Muntagna. Successive lava flows over the millennia have left a varied terrain. As much as we are helping them with our work, the vines must struggle to survive. Some may sink their roots into fertile soil, others find only bare rock. The microclimate is marked by extreme variations; we have cold temperatures in winter, almost Alpine, but in summer the hot Sicilian sun brings us back to the South. And drought is felt in the volcanic, sandy soils. Only with a lot of effort can we retain that little bit of moisture in the soil that allows the plants not to have to give up.
An Etnean Wine
The vines suffer from the drought of volcanic soils, but the suffering is a stimulus for the plants: they bear little fruit, but very rich. Not sweet and concentrated, but always in great balance with just the right acidity. Carricante, Minnella, Grecanico, Malvasia, Visparola for the whites, and then the reds Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Alicante are the vines that have always been grown on Etna. We usually find them planted next to each other, in promiscuous vineyards.
Vineyards where primordial viticulture is practiced, and producing an Etnean wine costs time, resources and effort. But we cannot imagine shortcuts to make our lives easier, because only by respecting traditions can we make wine the way we want to make it. The vines are bush-trained, at high density, up to almost ten thousand plants per hectare. The manual care that the Vigneri give to each individual plant makes very few treatments necessary during the year, using only sulfur and Bordeaux mixture. We harvest late, and only healthy, naturally grown bunches of grapes to produce great, truly Etnean wines.
