Giuseppe Benanti founded Tenuta di Castiglione in 1988 and, working with Salvo Foti, designated the 1990 vintages of Pietra Marina Etna Bianco and Rovitello Etna Rosso for bottling. These initiatives could be characterized as the opening salvos of the Etna quality-wine campaign. A campaign that was broadened and deepened with the arrival of Franchetti and Cornelissen (2001) and Marco de Grazia (2002).
But this story skips over one of the more meaningful, if unheralded, developments in Etna quality winemaking: the bottling of the first Calabretta wines in 1997; almost 10 years after the Benanti launch, but a full four years before the initial efforts of Franchetti and Cornelissen (And Franchetti's effort was launched with purchased fruit.). The Calabretta story is worth the telling; and I do so herein.
The Calabretta story begins in the early 1900s with the marriage of Gaetano Calabretta and donna Grazia. Some vineyards came along with donna Grazia's hand and Gaetano added to the stock with savvy purchases. In the 1920s and 1930s, wines made from the harvested grapes were sold in bulk to customers in northern Italy.
After WWII, Salvatore, the couples son, married donna Concetta and she brought additional substantial holdings to family stocks.
Through the years, the Calabretta wine had been sold in bulk to restaurants and private customers. In 1997, Massimo (Salvatore’s son) and Massimiliano (Massimo's son) opted to bottle their best wines to sell on the commercial market. Massimiliano was, at the time, helping to cultivate the vineyards, a situation necessitated by his grandfather's advancing age (he was 80 years old at that time). As he relayed to me, he wanted to make some wine with his grandparents and to "revive an old dream of my family to bottle wine and not only to sell bulk wine."
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| Massimo and Massimiliano |
I asked Massimiliano about the market forces they were responding to and he said "none." It was, he said, "a jump in the darkness." They had this idea that Etna could become famous. They had visited Barolo and seen its success and, knowing the Etna wine, felt that it could be successful also. Market creation was difficult initially but the passage of time has vindicated their decision.
I asked Massimiliano about influences and he said there were none. "No producer influenced my decision ... Benanti was a real pioneer of Etna quality wine and many later producers who helped the Etna renaissance found specialized workers because Benanti trained them. Etna owes a lot to Giuseppe Benanti. But I was not influenced by anyone."
There were no wineries operating in Randazzo at the time of the Calabretta launch and the mayor called to congratulate them on the initiative.
The historical Calabretta vineyards consisted of 7 ha of 60 - 80-year-old Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappucio vines located in Randazzo. The old vine stocks have been supplemented with an additional 3 ha. Within the past 5 years total vineyard hectares has been expanded with new plantings of Nerello Mascalese (1 ha), Carricante (1 ha), and Pinot Noir (1 ha).
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| 120-year-old vine |
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| Another 120-year-old vine on the Calabretta estate |
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| Massimiliano and an ancient Carricante vine |
The vineyards are distributed among the following northern contrade:
The estate adheres to a sustainable, noninterventionist approach in both its grape-growing and winemaking activities. The grape vines are grown among olive trees and fruit orchards and never see chemical pesticides or herbicides (small quantities of copper sulphate and sulphurum are used to combat powdery and downy mildew). Old vineyards are head pruned while newer vineyards are trained Guyot.
Calabretta seeks to harvest perfectly ripe grapes and is aided in this quest by the volcanic soil, the temperature differential between daytime and nighttime temperatures, and the high incidence of solar exposure. Grapes are hand-harvested and fermented with indigenous yeasts in small- and medium-sized barrels. The century-old traditions utilized at the estate are illustrated in the chart below.
Early in new winery's life, Massimiliano read about the contribution of single grape varieties to a blend. Wanting to test this out for himself he went in search of single-variety vineyards to source grapes for experiments. The experiments encompassed Nerello Cappuccio, Minnella bianco, and, later, Minnella nera. These varieties were fermented separately in small steel tanks and then aged separately. He then tasted each variety and found their real features
The Nerello Cappuccio was aged in old barrique. He found this wine to be fresh, elegant, full of color, and a pleasure in the mouth. He tested it at a 20% blend with Nerello Mascalese and came to understand why the DOC maintained the blend at that level. This was a really difficult experiment the first time around as the north slope does not normally grow large quantities of "real" Nerello Cappuccio. He eventually found what he wanted in the Pippo Anzolone's vineyard in Calderara. The first vintage was 210 litres and they bought a small used barrique of 200 litres in order to successfully conduct the experiment.
He found the White Minnella to be fresh, mineral, and lovely. Simple, but, as he describes it, "a beautiful and lovely wine."
Massimiliano took a different approach with the Minnella nera. He produced 80 to 100 litres for 4 years. He noted that the wine is beautiful and, when young, is similar in smell to an Etna Pinot Noir. "It is a beautiful red but its for summer and 80 liters is too small to make a real experiment."
Wines
The estate's wines are shown in the table below.
None of the above wines are DOC because he has a problem with the taste. He thinks that Etna wines are too acidic and the DOC will not allow malolactic fermentation to ameliorate. He wants more roundness in his wines and less acidity. He prefers lower levels of acidity than the DOC supports.
| Label | Variet(y)ies | Contrada | Description |
| Cala Cala Rosso | Non-vintage cuvée | ||
| Rosato | Nerello Mascalese | Calderara | Mostly from young vineyards |
| Vigna Vecchie | Calderara/Taccione | ||
| Sara | Nerello Mascalese (with some occasional NC) | Passopisciaro/Feudo di Mezzo | 550 m |
| Nonna Concetta | Nerello Mascalese (with some occasional NC) | Passopisciaro/Feudo di Mezzo | 680 m |
| Piedefranco | Nerello Mascalese | Taccione | Ungrafted |
| Cappuccio | Nerello Cappuccio | Young vineyards | |
| Pinot Nero | Zocconero?Battiati | Eight different clones of best clones for red wines | |
| Gaio Gaio Rosso | Young vineyards. Sepcial fermentation to be more fruit-forward | ||
| Contrada dei Centenari | Solicchiata | ||
| Carricante | Carricante | ||
| Minella Bianco | |||
| Elisir | Semi-carbonic fermentation. Young vines | ||
| Cala Cala Bianco | Grillo |
None of the above wines are DOC because he has a problem with the taste. He thinks that Etna wines are too acidic and the DOC will not allow malolactic fermentation to ameliorate. He wants more roundness in his wines and less acidity. He prefers lower levels of acidity than the DOC supports.
On the Saturday morning of a past Contrada dell'Etna weekend, we grabbed a quick coffee and headed off to a tasting of Calabretta wines at the estate's cantina which is housed in a three-level building in the heart of Randazzo. Upon arrival, we were greeted by Salvatore Caggegi, at the time the estate's Agronomist and Cellar Master.
The first wine tasted on the premises was the 2017 Vigne Vecchi. This wine is made from grapes grown on ungrafted 80-year-old vines in Centenarian vineyards in the Contrada Calderara. The variety mix is 97% Nerello Mascalese with the remainder Nerello Cappuccio. The wines are macerated for a short while in steel vats and then transferred to large Slavonian vats for extended aging.
Writing about this wine in the Wall Street Journal (11/12/15), Lettie Teague described it thusly: "... the style of this red is different from other more modern Etna Rosso bottlings. It is a soft Old World-style wine, with notes of earth and tobacco reminiscent of a traditional Barolo." This particular wine was too young to exhibit the characteristics of which she spoke but manifested both dark and red fruit on the nose and rich blue fruit on the palate. Smooth.
Writing about this wine in the Wall Street Journal (11/12/15), Lettie Teague described it thusly: "... the style of this red is different from other more modern Etna Rosso bottlings. It is a soft Old World-style wine, with notes of earth and tobacco reminiscent of a traditional Barolo." This particular wine was too young to exhibit the characteristics of which she spoke but manifested both dark and red fruit on the nose and rich blue fruit on the palate. Smooth.
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| Example of the large vats on premises |
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| Salvatore Caggegi, Calabretta Cellar Master and Agronomist |
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| Cellar heaven |
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| Sue, Parlo, and Lidia |
The 2017 Passopisciaro is sourced from 60 - 80-year-old vines, is aged from 8 - 10 months in used barriques, and is released to the market after 1 year. Vinosity. Structured, spicy red cherry. Light-bodied and high-toned. Soft tannins. Persistent, bitter finish.
The 2017 Feudo di Mezzo is 100% Nerello Mascalese. Cherry and dark olives on the nose. Faded strawberry on the palate. Light but textured. Smoky.
The 2017 Cappuchio was aromatic, more so than the Nerello Mascalese. Match flint and spice. Short finish. Unimpressive.
The 2017 Pinot Noir was rich but seemed to lack balancing acidity.
We then doubled back and tasted a 2012 Vigne Vecchi. Brandon described this vintage as producing some of the most concentrated wines in Mt Etna's history. This particular wine exhibited tobacco, ginger, port, balsamic, and green herbs on the nose. Concentrated on the palate with port, amarone, and walnut flavors. Powerful with strong tannins and a cupric finish.
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| Parlo, Brandon, Lidia, Salvatore, and Sue. |
The 2017 Feudo di Mezzo is 100% Nerello Mascalese. Cherry and dark olives on the nose. Faded strawberry on the palate. Light but textured. Smoky.
The 2017 Cappuchio was aromatic, more so than the Nerello Mascalese. Match flint and spice. Short finish. Unimpressive.
The 2017 Pinot Noir was rich but seemed to lack balancing acidity.
We then doubled back and tasted a 2012 Vigne Vecchi. Brandon described this vintage as producing some of the most concentrated wines in Mt Etna's history. This particular wine exhibited tobacco, ginger, port, balsamic, and green herbs on the nose. Concentrated on the palate with port, amarone, and walnut flavors. Powerful with strong tannins and a cupric finish.
Late last year I tasted a 2016 version of the above wine along with Brandon and Enzo Raneri and found it to be excellent. Sublime, smooth, balanced with clean, ripe red fruit and fully resolved tannins. Good finish.
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Massimiliano lauds the heralded pioneers on Etna. He feels that they did a great job of marketing the capabilities of the volcano. Very important, he says. He also identifies the idea of crus as emanating from Franchetti and Marc de Grazia and he liked the conception.
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. 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.
- Benanti had first mover advantage plus he had the skill of Salvo Foti on his team. He also had a groundbreaking white wine in his portfolio.
- 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.
- Most, if not all, of the stalwarts were better capitalized than Calabretta. This meant that they could invest as necessary to rapidly respond to market needs, available vineyards, fruit procurement, etc.
- Calabretta Vini had no sense of market needs. They had just "jumped in." In addition, this was during the period when "Parkerization" was in full force worldwide. It took a lot of courage to be traditional in that timeframe.
- Calabretta is not part of the DOC and thus does not get to take advantage of the assistance and initiatives originating from that institution.
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.
