When Andrea Franchetti arrived in Sicily 20 years ago he wasn’t there to reinvent the wheel. Much as he had done in Southern Tuscany with his first winery, Tenuta de Trinero, Andrea was there to repurpose and reinvigorate an ancient wine producing region. He was looking for the best raw ingredients for producing wines on the foot of Mount Etna.
He purchased an old farm and cellar near the town of Passopisciaro as well as some prime vineyard locations and got to work. Although grapes have been grown around this ancient volcano for several millennia, the region had been struggling to recover from two major eruptions in 1981 and again ten years later. Indeed the first eruption came just as the region was emerging from decades of economic depression after WWII.
Many of the vineyards were in such disrepair that they required a complete overhaul and occasionally replanting of the vines. It was while doing this difficult work that Andrea really began to appreciate the extraordinary terroir that Etna offers, with it’s warm, Southern Mediterranean Sun and high altitude, cold nights combining with the black, volcanic soils.
And as fortune would have it he wasn’t alone. It was the beginning of an Etna renaissance, with other innovators like Marc De Grazia and Frank Cornellissen moving in alongside a new generation of local winemakers like the Benanti brothers and Salvo Foti. Though the styles ranged, they all focused on meticulous farming and highlighting the spectacular terroir of the mountain and it’s singular variety Nerello Mascalese.
In 2008 Andrea began bottling his 5 single vineyards separately as “Contrada” which is roughly similar to a Cru in France. Each site is so different in exposure, altitude and geological exposition that simply using the term Cru, as they do in Barolo and Barbaresco, didn’t seem quite accurate. But for the ease of explanation I often refer to them as the 5 crus of Etna."When Andrea Franchetti arrived in Sicily 20 years ago he wasn’t there to reinvent the wheel. Much as he had done in Southern Tuscany with his first winery, Tenuta de Trinero, Andrea was there to repurpose and reinvigorate an ancient wine producing region. He was looking for the best raw ingredients for producing wines on the foot of Mount Etna.
He purchased an old farm and cellar near the town of Passopisciaro as well as some prime vineyard locations and got to work. Although grapes have been grown around this ancient volcano for several millennia, the region had been struggling to recover from two major eruptions in 1981 and again ten years later. Indeed the first eruption came just as the region was emerging from decades of economic depression after WWII.
Many of the vineyards were in such disrepair that they required a complete overhaul and occasionally replanting of the vines. It was while doing this difficult work that Andrea really began to appreciate the extraordinary terroir that Etna offers, with it’s warm, Southern Mediterranean Sun and high altitude, cold nights combining with the black, volcanic soils.
And as fortune would have it he wasn’t alone. It was the beginning of an Etna renaissance, with other innovators like Marc De Grazia and Frank Cornellissen moving in alongside a new generation of local winemakers like the Benanti brothers and Salvo Foti. Though the styles ranged, they all focused on meticulous farming and highlighting the spectacular terroir of the mountain and it’s singular variety Nerello Mascalese.
In 2008 Andrea began bottling his 5 single vineyards separately as “Contrada” which is roughly similar to a Cru in France. Each site is so different in exposure, altitude and geological exposition that simply using the term Cru, as they do in Barolo and Barbaresco, didn’t seem quite accurate. But for the ease of explanation I often refer to them as the 5 crus of Etna.
