I Vigneri 'Rosso' 2024 Mt. Etna, Sicily

Grape 🍇: Nerello Mascalese with a touch of Nerello Cappuccio

Style 😋: Medium bodied with fine tannins. Sour cherry, blood orange, pomegranate, and smoky minerality. A vibrant pure expression of high elevation fruit that finishes long and clean.

Details 📌: Hand harvested from organically farmed vines on decomposed volcanic rock and sand. Grapes are foot trodden and macerate on skins and stems for eight days before a spontaneous ferment in concrete and traditional palmento. The wine ages underground for six months in terra cotta amphorae and is bottled lightly filtered and with minimal sulfur.

Story 📖: I Vigneri is the living expression of Salvo Foti the godfather of Etna wine culture. Born in Catania and trained as an enologist Salvo spent decades advising many of Sicily’s top estates but ultimately wanted to build something rooted in the traditions of his home slopes. His project revives the fifteenth century Maestranzi dei Vigneri an ancient guild of vineyard workers whose ethos centered on mastery of the land and deep respect for manual farming. Today the association brings together local growers pruners and vine experts who continue to farm Etna’s old alberello vineyards entirely by hand or mule.