I am in the process of writing a series on the Mt Etna wine pioneers and have, to date, covered the late Giuseppe Benanti (Benanti Viticoltori) and Salvo Foti (I Vigneri Salvo Foti & Figli). I continue herein with the late Andrea Franchetti of Vini Franchetti.
According to Nesto and di Savino (The World of Sicilian Wine):
In 2000 Etna's wine industry awakened suddenly. Foreign attention and capital arrived. The newcomers Frank Cornelisen from Belgium, Marc de Grazia from Florence, and Andrea Franchetti from Rome bought vineyards on Etna and became evangelists of its potential (Ed. note: Andrea stipulates that Marc de Grazia came to Etna a little after Frank and him.).Andrea came to Etna looking for high-altitude vineyards where the grapes would mature in the cool of autumn and settled on Passopisciaro on Etna's north face.
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| Andrea Franchetti (Source: Letizia Patanè) |
Andrea Franchetti came from a famous and wealthy Roman family linked to the Frankfurt Rothschilds but struck out on his own and built a superlative brand in the wine industry. He had been a wine broker and imported French and Italian wines to the US between 1982 and 1986. He wanted to come back to Italy but, before doing so, went to Bordeaux and spent some time learning winemaking from his friends Jean Luc Thunevin (Chateau Valandraud) and Peter Sisseck (Dominio de Pingus). He then returned to Italy and single-handedly built Tenuta di Trinoro (Tuscany), an estate focused on wines made from Bordeaux varieties.
His Mt Etna foray began with the purchase of Guardiola -- a 8-ha property just on the edge of the DOC -- in 2002 (Some of the vines are DOC and others are not). Two hectares were planted to Petit Verdot in 2001/2002 at between 800 and 1000 m altitude and another 2 ha to Cesanese d' Affile. These vines were planted at 12,000 vines/ha with 5 bunches/vine. The vines were subjected to green harvests in order to further concentrate their energy and are the sources of the Franchetti wine first introduced in 2005. The current configuration of Guardiola is 3 ha split between Chardonnay, Petit Verdot, and Cesanese d'Affile and the remainder dedicated to Nerello Mascalese.
Franchetti's first wine was a Nerello (Passapisciaro 2001) but, as he stated in a personal communication, "I tried to make a Nerello that I liked right away, but wasn't able, until 2005 when I finally started getting it. Since then our Nerello has been, I think, getting better because of new touches in the winemaking."
Robert Camuto (Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey) provides telling insights into the Franchetti mindset and practices in those early years. In his visit to the Franchetti estate in the summer of 2009, he saw no Nerello Mascalese grapes planted there. In fact, "... Franchetti saw no need to plant local varieties when he could buy or lease Nerello from vineyards that were already established."
His perception of this early-times Franchetti is electric:
Most winemakers were coming to Etna to make their interpretations of Nerello, but Franchetti was here, it seemed, to interpret Franchetti. The others were like landscape painters who had come to paint the volcano; Franchetti was an abstractionist who had come to paint on the volcano. ... For other winemakers, Nerello Mascalese, with its delicate Pinot Noir color and structure, was part of the attraction. Franchetti, on the other hand, was here on Etna in spite of Etna.Camuto reports that Franchetti told him, "I hated the stuff -- I thought it was coarse. I didn't want to use Nerello to make wine. I looked at it as an ingredient I had to use."
According to Camuto, the early Franchetti Nerello vintages "rolled out the Bordeaux new wave formulas that had worked so well for him at Tenuta di Trinoro" but the long maceration, and aging in barriques, produced a wine that was "as rude as it was rustic."
In an email communication with me, Andrea referred to the wines made before 2004 as the "pre-Socratic vintages."
In 2004, I tried to extract for a long period at low temperature before fermenting the berries; to no avail. I mixed some 2001 Trinoro Merlot in the 2002 Nerello Mascalese. I let the 2003 Nerello Mascalese start out with local wild yeast out of spite. No "philosophy" had been built.Andrea sent me three of these early vintages to try. They bor no resemblance to the Franchetti Nerello Mascalese wines of today.
The 2001 showed a much deeper color than one would expect from an aged Nerello Mascalese. Hint of Nerello on the nose, but indistinct. Mushroom and earthiness dominate. Concentrated and unfocused on the palate. Bitter on the palate with a very bitter aftertaste. Metallic. Unpleasant finish.
The 2002 showed balsamic, spice, dark fruits, and lacquer on the nose along with hints of tobacco and cedar. Fruitier than the 2001. High acid level. Lack of focus on the palate. Big, dark fruit. red pepper spice. Bitterness and acidity competing on the palate. Severe dryness on palate leading to a furry feel in the mouth.
The 2003 exhibited stewed fruit, spice, and rust. Sweet fruit on the palate. Bitterness, salinity and kerosene.
But Franchetti eventually came to the realization that the problem was with his winemaking technique, rather than with the cultivar and, in 2004, he changed his approach (Camuto):
- He ceased macerating on the skin
- He lowered the fermentation temperature
- He moved from barrique to botti for aging
In his communication with me, Andrea said that he gained his initial feel for Nerello in 2004 when the wine came in "nice and tannic." The first applied thinking happened the following year (lightness, clarity, fining with egg whites). "What Nerello wine should be, or is in the heavens, struck me from 2005 on: I first modified the cellar activities; then the harvesting decision; then my vineyard management practices."
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Once the Franchetti wine was introduced in 2005, Andrea pivoted to (i) making a great white wine from Chardonnay (first bottling in 2007) and (ii) Nerello Mascalese wines that reflected their terroir (first bottling of Contrada wines in 2008). The distribution of vines by contrada, and the individual contrada characteristics, are shown in the figure below.
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| Source:vinifranchetti.com |
In order to ensure that any differences in the wines are contrada-specific, the wines are vinified similarly: fermentation in steel vats; malolactic and 18 months aging in large neutral oak barrels; fining with bentonite; and no filtering. The Franchetti is aged in barrique.
The wines and their sources for selected labels of the 2015 and 2014 vintages are shown below:
- 2015 Passorosso (Passopisciaro until a few years ago). The grapes for this wine were sourced from 70 - 100-year-old, bush-trained vines grown at altitudes between 550 and 1000 m in the contrade of Malpasso, Guardiola (40% of grapes), Santo Spirito, Favazza, and Arcuria.
- The 2015 Contrada Rampante was made from 100-year-old-vines planted at 8000/vines/ha and yielded 17.6 hl/ha.
- The Franchetti 2014 is a blend of 70% Petit Verdot and 30% Cesanese d' Affile. Yields of 17 hl/ha. Fermented with selected yeasts in stainless steel tanks for 10 - 15 days. Malolactic and 8 months aging in barriques, followed by 10 months in cement and 2 months in bottle. Bentonite fining.
Andrea Franchetti's Mt. Etna Chardonnay Journey
When he arrived on Mt Etna in 2002, Andrea decided to restore some ancient terraces lying between the Guardiola and Passochianche Contrade and to plant the plots to Chardonnay rather than Carricante, the latter being best suited to the clime and soils of the eastern slope. The vines were planted at elevations ranging between 850 and 1000 meters in "very loose, deep, powder-like," mineral-rich lava.
In 2009, Andrea planted an additional parcel of Chardonnay in Contrada Montedolce.
Andrea's intent was to craft a long-lived Chardonnay reminiscent of the wines of Burgundy and, towards that end, planted at 12,300 vines/ha in order to force inter-vine competition and the production of small, concentrated berries. Andrea felt that the combination of stressed fruit, altitude, abundant sunlight, and significant day-night temperature excursions would produce wines with excellent body plus the acidity and minerality for which the zone is famed.
The first Chardonnay was introduced in 2007. It was called Guardiola initially but, since 2014, is called Passobianco. This 100% Chardonnay utilizes fruit from all Passopisciaro Chardonnay plots.
On every occasion that I have been to Passopisciaro, I have seen Andrea walking through the vineyard, plucking something here, tasting something there. So he knew the vineyards like the back of his hand; and he noticed that as the vines became older, individual plots were developing distinct characteristics. In 2018 Andrea decided to utilize his knowledge of the vineyard characteristics to bottle a Contrada Chardonnay using grapes drawn solely from one of the highest parcels (870 - 950 m) in Contrada Passochianche. The resulting wine is called Contrada Passochianche.
The fruit sources for the Passopisciaro Chardonnays are summarized in the chart below.
The first-ever edition of Contrada Passochianche was 2018.
According to Passopisciaro, 2018 "was one of the rainiest and most tropical vintages that we've seen on Etna in the last eight years, especially at the end of the summer." The number of leaf-pull passes through the vineyard had to be increased in order to provide air passage through the vines and mitigate the effect of the humidity. Additional mitigation efforts included the use of products such as clay, propolis, grapefruit seed extract, copper, and sulfur.
The harvested grapes were destemmed and cold-soaked for 12 hours. They were then fermented in large neutral oak barrels of no more than 20 Hl, followed by malolactic fermentation in barrel. The wines were aged on lees for 10 months in large neutral oak barrels and for an additional 12 months in bottle.
This wine was alive, taking on different characteristics as it spent more time exposed to the light of day. It was popped and poured.
One of the first things that I noticed was the extremely high surface tension of the wine. I felt like even I could walk on that water.
Restrained on the nose initially with hints of herbs, sweet white fruit, apple, and peach. Weighty on the palate at first blush. Bright, intense, racy acidity which was instantly ennervating of the salivary glands. Citrus. Palate-coating chalky limestone and a peppery cupric finish.
The altitude is apparent, imparting a chiseled character. With the passage of time, a complex mix of minerality, acidity, bitterness, and slate on the palate and the finish.
The nose opens up to reveal tropical notes to include pineapple. As the initial bright acidity recedes, citrus (lime) and minerality rule the day. The wine continues to excite the salivary glands but in a less whole-palate manner.
The wine becomes less weighty over time with lees and honeydew melon making their presence felt. More linear on the palate with consistent minerality and lime and a saline intrusion. Bitter finish with a lean, mineral, wet-rock aftertaste.
This is a complex wine which has all the characteristics and stuffing to hang around for a while.
Contrada dell'Etna
In 2008 Franchetti created and sponsored a wine fair called Le Contrade dell'Etna where the region's producers showcased their wines -- within the contrada context -- to the wine press and enthusiasts. Brandon Tokash recounts receiving a call from Andrea one Christmas wherein Andrea discussed his idea for a gathering of north-slope producers to show their wares. In the continuing discussions on the topic, they expected 10 or so producers to show up for the inaugural event but over 30 did. The first two sessions were almost big parties, according to Brandon. This fair was held at Franchetti's estate for a while before moving elsewhere.
Passing and Legacy
Andrea died at home in Rome on December 5, 2021, at the age of 72. The praise and accolades were fulsome and emanated from every corner of the wine world. The wine world has been wracked by a number of leading-light deaths in the past few years but none has struck as close to home for me as the passing of Andrea. I have eaten and drunk wines at both of his estates and been the beneficiary of a wealth of information and insights that he has directed my way. But not only did I benefit from knowing Andrea, I also benefited from the organizations and institutions that he established. The staff at both of his estates are some of the nicest, most helpful people that you would want to meet and Contrada dell'Etna, his formualtion, continues to be one of the most efficient methods for surveying the breadth of Mt Etna's offerings.
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.
