One of the presentations at ViniMilo 2025 lauded the key players in the Etna wine Renaissance but omitted a major contributor, an oversight I am sure. More recently, Salvo Foti was interviewed by Gambero Rosso and shared his views on that critical period. These two happenings have caused me to consider a series on these Mt Etna pioneers. I begin, herein, with the late Giuseppe Benanti of Benanti Viticoltori.
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| Giuseppe Benanti flanked by sons Antonio and Salvino (screengrab from benanti.it) |
In his Gambero Rosso interview, Foti describes the Renaissance in Etna winemaking as beginning in the early 1990s. In the preceding period, tagged by Foti as the late 80s - early 90s, there was, he said, "little interest in Sicily's native grape varieties and typical agriculture in general." Etna winemaking was not viewed favorably and the wine that was made was primarily sold in bulk at the "cellar door." Only Villagrande and Murgo bottled consistently, with most producers selling-on their grapes.
Foti is declarative as to the Renaissance driving forces in the case of Etna winemaking: (i) Benanti's desire to become a quality wine producer (1988) and (ii) his (Salvo's) "historical and technical-scientific research in collaboration with Professor Rocco Di Stefano, Director of the Experimental Institute of Oenology in Asti." In his book The New Wines of Mt. Etna, Benjamin North Spencer puts some skin on those bones.
According to Ben, Dr Benanti was having lunch with some friends at a local trattoria and ordered wine to accompany the meal. The wine was of poor quality and Dr Benanti inquired as to whether this was the best available. When told that was the case, Dr Benanti voiced that (i) he had drunk better local wines when he was younger and (ii) would produce much better wines himself if he could find a good Enologist. Shortly after this experience Dr. Benanti was introduced to Salvo Foti, a young Enologist who had trained at Catania University and done some work at a Donnafugata winery. According to Ben, Dr. Benanti hired Foti but also brought in some more seasoned hands to provide a supportive superstructure:
- Rocco Di Stefano, Experimental Institute for Oenology, Asti
- Jean Siegrist, French National Institute of Agriculture, Beaune
- Giandomenico Negro, Langhe winemaker
- Alessandro Monchiero, Langhe winemaker.
Ben goes on to describe the early work of the team:
The first experiments amounted to 125 individual trials under monitored and controlled situations. They focused on different types of vineyard work, unique harvest times, wild and cultivated yeasts, acid conversion, variant temperatures, and the effects of fermentation on an array of storage containers. When the wines had settled, the team sat down to taste the results ... From an analytical standpoint, the best wines were those in which every effort was made to protect the integrity of the grapes, the purity of the must, and the resulting wine, from external heat or oxygenation. When the wines were analyzed, they also hit the Etna DOC targets with near pinpoint accuracy.
One of the surprising findings was that the wines resulting from this process needed to be aged for drinkability, not previously a requirement for Etna wine. Benanti came out of these tests and experiments with the following recipe for quality wine (Spencer):
- Phenolic ripeness of the grapes at harvest
- Gentle anaerobic treatment in the cantina
- Total wine stability prior to bottling.
The team conducted over 150 micro-vinifications in the initial trials and, after two experimental harvests, designated the 1990 vintages of Pietra Marina Etna Bianco and Rovitello Etna Rosso for bottling.
In describing this period to a Wilson Daniels audience a few years ago, Salvino Benanti told how his father's love for wine drove him to pursue making a wine of Burgundian or Northern Italy quality on the mountain. His resources allowed him to experiment and make mistakes along the way, yet live to continue the fight. He recalled accompanying his father to wine fairs as a teenager and having little or no customer attention at their booth.
From its founding in 1988 as Tenuta di Castiglione, Benanti has exhibited a proclivity for experimentation, innovation, and strategic property acquisition/de-acquisition. And the entity continues in this vein to this day, as illustrated graphically by the timeline below.
Antonio Galloni’s Vinous has, on a number of occasions, paid homage to Benanti and his role in the development of winemaking on Etna. In a December 2016 note, Vinous mentioned Benanti as the "... first to believe and insist upon Etna's native grapes at a time when everyone on Sicily was rushing to plant Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot." In another mention, Vinous stated: "Credit must go to Benanti for having created the I Monovitigni series of wines, which showcased to great effect the characteristics and high quality of the likes of monovariety Nerello Cappucchio, Nerello Mascalese, and even Minella Bianco, at a time when little was known of these cultivars."
Benanti has shifted its territorial holdings from time to time to comport with its evolving business strategy. For example, Giuseppe initiated the company in Castiglione di Sicilia, even though the family owned property in Viagrande; property which had been used to grow grapes since the 1800s. In the 1990s he expanded via a partnership with vine growers in Santa Maria di Licodia on the southwestern side of Etna. He renamed the winery Benanti and moved to Viagrande in 1998.
When Giusepe felt that a broader Sicilia portfolio was in order, he procured property in Noto and Pantelleria. When he handed management of the business over to his sons Antonio and Salvino in 2012, they opted to narrow the focus to selected sites on Etna and sold the Noto and Pantelleria properties, along with some under-performing Etna properties, in order to effect their vision.
Giuseppe Benanti, unfortunately, died in February of 2023. As was to be expected, the praise for his contribution to the re-awakening of winemaking on Etna was full-throated. In a Wine Soectator article reporting on his death, Alberto Graci, an important voice among Etna winemakers, stated thusly: “Pippo Benanti was a charismatic, visionary and ambitious winegrower. He helped to set a glorious path for the wines of Etna, believing in their value from the beginning and investing with seriousness and passion to position them among the great areas of the world. We will all remember him with great respect.”
In the same Wine Spectator article, Alessio Planeta lauded Giuseppe as “… truly a pioneer, who started to believe very early in the beauty and potential of the wines from Mount Etna, and who travelled around the world to communicate these values.”
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To me Giuseppe was the most significant of the Renaissance producers on Mt Etna. He was the first to recognize the need, and, further, took steps to address that need. And in a scientific way. And with native varieties, no less.
In this story, Salvo Foti and Giuseppe Benanti’s lives are inextricably intertwined. I will cover Salvo Foti next.
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