Tenute Ballasanti: On the path to realization of a Mt. Etna wine dream

The ViniMilo 2024 program for the evening of August 30 called for a  “White Volcanos” tasting dinner to be held at the Barone di Villagrande winery. The event brought together white wines from volcanic locations paired with locally sourced and prepared small dishes.  Brandon had secured tickets for us to attend. It was somewhat nostalgic for me because I had visited and toured the winery on a previous trip to the island.

 

The evening was enjoyable and was capped by a reunion with Barbara Liuzzo who had led us through our initial tour of Barone di Villagrande. Barbara was in the company of Manuela Seminara, the co-owner of Tenute Ballasanti, an estate to which Barbara is providing consulting services. We engaged in spirited conversation and, coming out of that, I learned a few things about the estate.

 

Tenute Ballasanti is a modern incarnation of a grapegrowing-wine making legacy that stretches back to Manuela’s maternal great-grandfather Don Lorenzo, and his wife Mara, who farmed the now-named Il Temerario Vineyard, a 2.5 ha property in the Ricceri Ciapparo district in San Giovanni Montebello. "This was in the early 1900s when Etna exported wine to phylloxera-devastated France." Don Lorenzo’s son, Don Angelo, subsequently diversified beyond wines into citrus, olives, figs, prickly pears, strawberries, chestnuts, pomegranates, quinces, and maple trees. 

Manuela was born and raised on this familial property but left home in her youth to finish her thesis abroad. She worked in Brussels, and then in Milan, as an executive in the semiconductor field, but, always, in the back of her mind was the memory of Sicily and that farm. She had gotten married over this period and her husband, Fabio Gualandris, himself a high ranking business executive and scientist, began working on realizing and expanding that dream resident in the recesses of her mind. Towards that end they: acquired additional properties, extending holdings to 7.5 ha (7.5 of which are under vine at three separate locations); have taken steps to introduce two CRU labels at the end of 2025 to join the three currently on the market; and have plans afoot to build a new winery in Piedmonte Etneo. 

Fabio Gualandris and Manuela Seminara
(Screenshot from company website)

The wine philosophy, as captured by winealchemy.co.uk, is to draw on "local grapes, organic farming, and tradition to create high-quality monovarietal wines." Attainment of the company's goals are aided and abetted by a mix of local and imported talent. For example, while agronomy is handled by local experts, enological skills have been imported from Piedmont. The company's first enologist was the Piemontese Gianluca Scaglione but he was replaced by another Piemontese, Luca Caramellino, earlier this year. It is expected that Luca will give elegance and personality to the wine going forward. Needless to say, they most likely felt that those characteristics were missing/muted under the old regime.

The characteristics of the individual vineyards are illustrated in the chart below. 

At the end of the conversation, we agreed that Brandon and I had to taste the wines as soon as possible. Barbara took on the responsibility and shortly thereafter we were issued a formal invitation to do so.

At our tasting meeting, Barbara indicated that the soul of the winery is wrapped in its white wines and she fully expects that they will introduce a Superiore (Etna Bianco DOC wine produced only in Milo and with higher constituent requirements) in the future. 

Barbara Liuzzo and Brandon Tokash on
the day of the tasting 

We tasted the current market release (2022) of each label as well as the yet-to-be-released 2023 editions.

The first wine tasted was the 2022 Etna Bianco DOC. This wine is 100% Carricante sourced from Il Tenace Vineyard. The bunches are destemmed softly after which the grapes were allowed brief contact with the must. This was followed by soft pressing and extraction of the free-run must. The must was then fermented in steel tanks and aged therein for 6 – 8 months. It is then racked off the lees and aged in bottle for an additional year. 

This wine was aromatic with notes of citrus, tropical fruit, green herbs, and sweet white flowers. Lime/orange skin on the palate along with high acidity, minerality, green herbs, and a hint of salinity. Pleasant. I loved this for a by-the-glass (BTG) program. 

The 2023 version of this wine showed sweet white flowers and intense fermentation notes. Bitter on the palate with high acidity. A very young wine that would do very well with food.

The 2022 Siciia DOC is 100% Nerello Mascalese from the Il Temerario Vineyard. Gentle destemming of the bunches then alcoholic fermentation in temperature-controlled tanks with 20-day maceration including manual punchdowns and delestage. Aged in French oak (a combination of Tonneaux and Barrique) for eight months and then spent one year in bottle. This wine will be aged in stainless steel going forward.

Balsamic, shoe polish, sweet red cherries, nuttiness, and crème custard on the nose. Broad-based red fruit on the palate with roundness emphasized. Drying, bitter note at the rear of the palate. Long, mineral finish.

The Sicila DOC 2023 exhibited smoke, wood, creaminess, spice, and licorice on the nose. Sweet dark fruit and balsamic on the palate along with a good acidity and smooth tannins. 

The Etna Rosso DOC 2022 was sourced from century-old vines in Il Sublime Vineyard. Grapes are destemmed after harvesting and then subjected to alcoholic fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. The wine is macerated on the skin for an extended period during which the cap is managed by pumping-over and batonnage. This particular wine was aged in small ceramic containers  and partly in French oak tonneaux. Malolactic fermentation in wood. Six months of bottle-aging. 

Linear, with some phenolic notes. Sour cherry. Tannins somewhat tamed by the barrel. Mineral. Great BTG.

 

The Etna Rosso DOC 2023 exhibited eep red fruit, turpentine mango, and herbs on the nose. Powerful red fruit on the palette with a hint of wood. Tannins add character and texture.

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Tenute Ballasanti have taken the early steps on its path to the production of high-quality grapes and wine in the Etna zone. It has a current stable of wines that are pleasant to drink in the early stages, a feat for east-slope wines and they have done so while eschewing commonly held approaches for taming Carricante's acidity. 

The company has a good fruit base and it is now a function of how they execute going forward. They have taken the hard decision of replacing their legacy enologist with a Luca Caramellino and we will have to wait to see how that decision affects the wines. Luca is expecetd to craft wines with more elegance and personality and, if successful, would lift the wines from the BTG niche that they currently occupy to truly superb wines. Attaining that goal may also require adding to the stable of vineyards that the estate currently owns (or procuring fruit from even more desirable vineyards).

©Wine -- Mise en abyme