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- The Burgundy of the Mediterranean
The very Ancient Greeks first recognised the potential of Etna’s strange volcanic soil. Then so did the Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Hohenstaufens, Angevins, Aragonese, Spanish Habsburgs, Savoyards, Austrian Habsburgs, Bourbons, the Kings of Italy,Garibaldi and his Italian Republic, Americans and Brits in the war … and now Easyjet. Never a moment’s peace here.
Despite the chaos and the exploding mountain, Etna wines became quite sophisticated and widely traded. Twenty or so years ago some adventurous (mad) winemakers proved the mountain’s classy wine potential once again. Big money and big names moved in. As they always do.
So did an old friend of ours. Not rich, not famous but a guy determined to do wine properly on his native island, to respect its traditions and protect the unique ecology.
Etna has been called ‘The Burgundy of the Mediterranean’. Normally you think for wines of refined elegance you must head to the cool northern vineyards. Here, instead, you just head up the winding roads. After all, if Etna isn't the tallest mountain in southern Europe it soon will be… because it’s growing. This altitude gives it a cool climate but with the bonus of much more useful sunshine than up north. Nonetheless harvest still take place as late as November.
But it’s not a big region; in other parts of Italy you find individual estates that are bigger than all Etna DOC. Principally it grows Nerello Mascalesea Red grape, often compared to Nebbiolo or Pinot Noir for its structure and aging potential. For white wine it’s mostly Carricante a white grape known for crisp, mineral-driven wines with great longevity.
Back to our old friend. We’ve known Philipo Mangione for years. You may even have met him yourself at one of our shows where for several years he presented other people’s wines. Then one day, as you do, he dropped everything to go back to his native Sicily and make his own. He had just enough money to buy La Vuciata – a small, rundown ‘Palmento’ (a word that charmingly means both ‘farm’ and ‘large, shallow vat used for crushing grapes and fermenting must’) on the prime northern slopes of Mount Etna; just a few scrappy hectares of veryancient vineyards.
The estate had operated successfully from 1882 till the 1980’s when a lava flow knocked out a load of vineyards and much of the rest was semi-abandoned.
This was not actually a bad thing as it meant that the old vines were kept, not replaced. The conditions on Etna are amazingly healthy for vines. They almost never get diseased and live long. We’ve just visited some huge vines that could be 150 years old. Some are unknown varietals even to the pros at Davis University in California – the world’s prime source of grape varietal information. If it’s a vine, they’ll know it’s family ancestry. They came and sampled Phillipo’s vines and several were a total mystery to them.
Volcanic soil is rich in essential minerals and has excellent drainage, which forces vines to grow deep roots, resulting in small, concentrated grapes with intense flavours. The unique terroir imparts distinctive smoky, mineral, and sometimes salty notes to the wines, because each lava flow brings up different combinations of minerals.
It’s just a bit bloody dangerous because Etna never stops erupting. There have now been three so far this year. Quite a few last year. Here they get dust and stones falling like we get rain. Lava flows did engulf a nearby village. So you have to admire the bloody-minded tenacity of growers here. None more so than Phillipo.
To finance his vineyard he also holds down a job for one of Sicily’s big cooperatives. But it’s at the other end of the island meaning long drives through the night along Sicily’s terrible roads.
