Timeline of the Etna wine renaissance and contributions of the pioneers

I have recently concluded a series of posts on the pioneers (Giuseppe Benanti,  Salvo Foti, Franchetti, Cornelissen, Marco de Grazia, and Calabretta Vini) of the Etna wine renaissance and summarize the key findings in this post.

First, as described by Salvo Foti in his recent Gambero Rosso interview, the Renaissance in Etna winemaking began in the early 1990s. Prior to the renaissance, there was "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.

The chart below shows the trajectory of the renaissance. It was launched by the quality-wine effort of Benanti, spearheaded by Salvo Foti and his technical supporting cast.

As the chart shows, Benanti had an almost 10-year headstart on Calabretta and 12 years on the earliest "foreigners." By the time the other entered the fray Benanti had already surveyed and mapped the soils of the various slopes, Shortly after Calabretta's entry Benanti expanded production on Monte Serra and became the first producer to source fruit from all slopes.Bennti was so comfortable with its winemaking that it changed the name of the winery to the family name and, in 2002, began producing a Metodo Classico sparkling wine from Carricante.

With all the advancements in the quality of the Benanti wines, international critical acclaim did not immediately follow. That acclaim came with the entry of the "foreigners" into the production space. A number of contributing factors can be identified:

• Both Franchetti and de Grazia came into Etna with name recognition and familiarity with what it takes to get attention from the international press. De Grazia had helmed the winning Barolo Boys strategy while Franchetti had won some Bordeaux allies and wowed the wine press with his success at Tenuta di Trinoro. Both of these guys could call up Jancis Robinson and say I would like you to come taste my wines.
• All of the "foreigners" sought to craft wines for specific markets: Cornelissen was making an Etna wine but it was targeted to consumers who understood the natural wine message and taste. Marco had wielded barriques to good advantage in Barolo and utilized the same tools on Etna. The use of barriques in aging appealed to consumers who were after a richer, rounder feel than would be  traditional for Etna.

Benanti

From its founding in 1988 as Tenuta di Castiglione, Benanti has exhibited a proclivity for experimentation, innovation, and strategic property acquisition/de-acquisition. 

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."

In a Wine Spectator 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.”

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. 

Foti

In their seminal work on Sicilian wine (The World of Sicilian Wine), Nesto and di Savino describe the subject of this post thusly: "Salvo Foti stands out, by himself, as Sicily's greatest homegrown consulting enologist ..." who "... more than any other person ... has fostered an awareness of (Etna's) unique wine culture."

Foti is a quiet and soft-spoken man. At least those were the characteristics that he projected during the course of our meetings. But he also impressed as being extremely knowledgeable, having a strong sense of self, commitment to a set of ideals, and intensity of purpose. Etna wine owes a lot to this pioneer; and I see no reason why this will not continue to be the case out into the future.

Franchetti

Andrea's legacy is clear. He built two high-quality estates in two very different regions with differing grape varieties and grape-growing environments, all without the presence of a regional support system. He went into the Val d'Orcia boondocks and designed and built an enterprise that today produces some of the best Bordeaux-style wines coming out of Tuscany. He had no Consorzio to lean on for assistance. He had no surrounding collegial producers. Such an infrastructure does not even exist in the area to this day.

A similar situation existed at the time he came to Mt. Etna in that, even though the region had historical wine roots, with the exception of Benanti, there were few high quality wine producers. Franchetti brought his Trinoro style to Etna but realized pretty quickly that the formula was inapplicable there and made the adjustments necessary to produce a high-quality wine.

How has Franchetti contributed to the shaping of the wine direction on Etna? First, he was part of the initial group of outside investors who brought the potential of this region to the eyes of the wider world. Second, he showed that a Bordeaux cultivar (Petit Verdot) could be blended with an almost extinct cultivar (Cesanese d'Affile) to make a world-class, non-indigenous wine on the mountain. Third, his focus on the importance of contrada effects, both in the stable of wines that he produced and in his establishment and support of Contrada dell'Etna was the forerunner of the regions current thrust into Contrada-labeled wines.

Marco de Grazia

There is no doubt that winemaking on Etna gained greater visibility earlier due to the presence of Marco in its winemaking ranks. But Marco was not just a celebrity. He put in the hard work to understand the region, to make the connection between its architecture and Burgundy, and to drag his compatriots into the arena kicking and screaming. The upsurge of contrada bottlings today owes much to the early work done by Marco.

Marco's efforts on North-face whites are constrained by his own admission that it is difficult to source white grapes in a predominantly red-grape area but also by the flow of white-wine investment dollars into Milo and, to a lesser extent, the south.

In any case, Delle Terre Nere was there from the beginning of the "foreign wave" and continues to be a driving force along the way.

Calabretta

Calabretta was preceded only by Benanti in the quality-wine quest yet Benanti, Franchetti, Cornelissen, Foti, and De Grazia all garnered more critical acclaim and visibility, and more financial success, than did Calabretta Vini. With all of the challenges, however, Calabretta has persevered and today produces an extensive portfolio of quality wines. Its practice of not releasing wines before they are ready to drink means that, on average, the Vigne Vecche is released 10 years after its harvest date. And it generally drinks beautifully upon its release. I drink it whenever I can.

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