PIETRADOLCE, winery in the northern sector of the Etna DOC region of Sicily.

OWNER | Michele Faro. ‘Michele’s grandfather owned two hectares of vines and one hectare of lemons south of Etna. His father Venerando built up a considerable business selling Mediterranean plants in this particularly warm, wet corner of Sicily overlooked by Etna. But in 2004 they realised that Etna was about to be engulfed not by molten lava but by an influx of wine producers and made their move, acquiring some particularly favoured 40-, 80- and 100-year-old vines for their Pietradolce wine project in the late-ripening northern sector that is particularly suitable for red-wine production because of the length of the growing season,’ says Jancis Robinson MW (15 Nov 2014).

WHITE WINES

ETNA BIANCO, ARCHINERI | 2011 100% Carricante. / 2016  100% Carricante. Soft, bit of spritz, lightly oily, creamy, spicey end at a tasting of wines from volcanic soils hosted by John Szabo, at the VinCe Budapest wine show, 06 April 2018.

ETNA ROSSO, ARCHINERI | Harvest can be late, toward the end of October. / 2013 Lovely fruit, balanced, minor key, light, but very crunchy and clear at the Vinitaly International Academy Tasting hosted by Ian d’Agata on 01st December 2015 at Signorvino, Veneto, Italy.

ETNA BIANCO, VIGNA BARBAGALLI | From a small, isolated single vineyard located in what Jancis Robinson MW (15 Nov 2014) describes as ‘an amphitheatre almost at the upper, 1,000-m limit of the Etna DOC, a haunt of butterflies, cactus, wild cyclamen and fennel best reached on foot.’

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jancis Robinson MW, ‘The great Etna landgrab, www.jancisrobinson.com 15 Nov 2014.