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

The major Etna DOC grape varieties

The Etna DOC has established the following wine and labeling requirements:

• Etna DOC Rosso -- to be made from the indigenous varieties Nerello Mascalese (> 80%) and Nerello Cappuccio (< 20%) plus up to 10% of other non-aromatic grape varieties (red or white)
• Etna DOC Rosato -- same as for Rosso
• Etna DOC Bianco -- to be made from Carricante (> 60%), Catarratto (< 40%), and up to 15% of other non-aromatic grapes such as Minella or Trebbiano
• Etna DOC Bianco Superiore -- to be made from Carricante (> 80%) and Catarratto or Minnella (< 20%). All grapes to be sourced exclusively from the area of Milo on the eastern side of the volcano.

I continue to flesh out my understanding of the Etna DOC viticultural  environment with the following post on the main grape varieties included in the DOC specification.

White Varieties
Carricante
Carricante is an ancient white variety -- prevalent on Mt Etna's eastern face -- that yields low-potassium, low-pH, high acidity wines (benanti.it). The bunches are of average length at ripening, with medium-sized berries of a green-yellowish color.

Carricante (tenutaterrenere.com)

Frank Cornelissen, one of the leading winemakers on the mountain, has historically viewed the variety as too acidic to produce world-class wine. Ian d'Agata, author of Native Wine Grapes of Italy, on the other hand, is quoted in Szabo's Volcanic Wines thusly: "potentially one of Italy's greatest cultivars ..." that "... when properly tended to, yields wines of great longevity and intense mineral character."

According to Salvo Foti, long-famed viticulturist, Carricante vines have to be somewhere between 10- and 15-years old in order to begin giving great concentration. Salvo said that both his father and grandfather worked Carricante and the wine's high acidity was extremely important in the days before widespread access to refrigeration. The wine is also great for raw fish, the main dish in the area.

There is a saltiness in the east side Carricante that is lacking in wines made from grapes grown on the north side of the mountain. For Salvo, typicity is the key; and he sees Carricante as the grape for this place.

There are some 100% Carricante wines on the market but the grape is usually the primary varietal in an Etna DOC wine. It is also used, at lower elevations, to lighten the color and body of Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappucchio blends.

Catarratto
Catarratto is a high-yielding, low-acidity Sicilian grape variety. It is the main grape used in the production of Marsala but on Etna is primarily blended with Carricante. There are two clones -- Commune and Lucido -- with the former having more acid and less sugar than the latter as well as being the clone of choice on the mountain.

Catarratto (etnawine.it)

Catarratto does not engender as much discussion on the mountain as does Carricante.

Minnella
Minnella is a white-berry vine that is indigenous to Etna where it is mostly found in old vineyards interplanted with Nerello Mascalese and Carricante. This is an early ripening variety.

Reds
Nerello Mascalese
Nerello Mascalese is the most important variety on Mt Etna. In older vineyards in can be found interplanted with Nerello Cappucchio while newer plantings position these varieties into separate rows or blocks to facilitate cellar rather than field blends.

Nerello Mascalese (tenutaterrenere.com)

The vine is vigorous and is readily affected by:

• Vintage conditions
• Cultivation area
• Training system
• Density
• Cultural practices.

The wines from the variety are mildly sweet and "distinctively tannic." Szabo compares it to Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo both in color and the ability to reflect even minor variations in terroir.

Benanti sees the best training system for the variety as follows:

• Free standing bush with 2 - 3 branches per tree
• High vine density -- 6000 - 9000 vines /ha
• Spacing of 1 x 1 or 1.25 x 1.25.

Nerello Cappuccio
This variety's medium-to-small-sized bunches and medium-sized grapes produce wines with good acid and tannin levels. The variety buds and ripens earlier than Nerello Mascalese with the former characteristic bringing the negative effects of late spring frosts into play.

Used primarily in a blend with Nerello Mascalese, this grape brings color and perfume to the blend as well as serving to soften up some of the harder edges of its partner.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

The significance of Contrade in Etna wine production and labeling

The Etna DOC, brought into being by a 1968 Decree, was the first of its type in Sicily and it established wine and labeling requirements as follows:

• Etna DOC Rosso -- to be made from the indigenous varieties Nerello Mascalese (> 80%) and Nerello Cappuccio (< 20%) plus up to 10% of other non-aromatic grape varieties (red or white)
• Etna DOC Rosato -- same as for Rosso
• Etna DOC Bianco -- to be made from Carricante (> 60%), Catarratto (< 40%), and up to 15% of other non-aromatic grapes such as Minella or Trebbiano
• Etna DOC Bianco Superiore -- to be made from Carricante (> 80%) and Catarratto or Minella (< 20%). All grapes to be sourced exclusively from the area of Milo on the eastern side of the volcano.

The decree also named the 20 communities which would comprise the DOC production zone.

A ministerial decree dated September 27, 2011 has updated the requirements of the 1968 decree as regards production zones and labeling requirements. The decree lists 133 contrade with defined borders within the DOC and allows for placement of contrada names on the label if all the grapes used in the wine were sourced from the subject contrada. In this post I will define the contrada and its significance to winemaking in the Etna region.

In their explanation of the formation of contrade, Nesto and di Savino (The World of Sicilian Wine) state thusly:

Lava flows radiate down from Etna's summit, more or less, like the spokes of a wheel from a hub ... All Etna soil rests on or directly derives from lava that has flowed and hardened for thousands of years, along with ejected pumice, lapilli, and windblown volcanic ash. There are lava flows upon lava flows upon lava flows. The hardened flows on the surface each have a different age and different soil constituents.

Vinifranchetti.com describes the same process a little more colorfully and, further, relating it to territories and wine:

Thousands of mouths across a fifty-kilometer diameter on Mount Etna have spit lava from every different depth under the earth, covering the surface of the volcano where vines take root. Flowing lava -- descending sometimes dense and slow, at times fast as water - eventually stops, spreading and hardening at various altitudes. After cooling for many years, these flatter areas over the centuries become established properties, each one producing a different taste of wine because of the different mineral origin of their soils and, more importantly, because of the grain that the lava had broken into during its cooling process: sand, gravel, powder, or rock. Under the same old names the properties became territorial subdivisions called contrade, and, with regards to wine, they represent Etna's own version of a cru.

Contrade as territorial designations have gone the way of the dodo bird but not so its relevance for wine. According to Nesto and di Savino, of the cadre of new winemakers to breach the Etna walls in the early 2000s, Marc de Grazia was the first to "promote the connection between Burgundy Crus and Etna contradas and between contradas and and lava flows." Further, say the authors, "Certain Etna producers support contrada labeling because it connects Etna to the concept of terroir and, from a marketing standpoint, models Etna on Burgundy, the wine zone with which the concept of terroir is most associated."

But de Gracia sees the new Minesterial decree in an even more brilliant light (tenutaterrenere.com):

I have no hesitation in defining the achievement of historic significance for the appellation. Not only has it reinstated and classified identities that had traditionally been accepted for centuries. It has laid the foundations upon which future generations, strong of a deeper experience, may define and circumscribe still more complex subdivisions, breaking down the just established crus into fractions whose boundaries we can sometimes already gleam ... Just as Burgundy can proudly display its tantalizing variations of Pinot Noir, so Etna will now be able to offer the subtle nuances of its Nerello Mascalese.

Salvatore Giuffrida, the consulting agronomist for Valentini, Gambino and the IRW, cautions against this focus on the mineral content in the lava flows. Speaking to Nesto and di Savino, he indicated that exposure, soil depth, and elevation had greater impacts on vines and wine flavor than did the mineral differences between lava flows.

Winemakers across the region have hearkened to the practice and advice of early adapters such as de Graci and Franchetti and are producing contrada/cru wines in greater numbers. The table below shows a small sampling of the contrade that can be found on Etna wine labels today.

Frank Cornelissen ID of his contrada grape sources.

Table 1: A Selection of Etna Contrade.

Cru	Estate	# of Parcels	Size (ha)	Elevation (m)	Soil	Notes
Calderara Sottano	Delle Terre Nere	4		600 - 700	Rockiest cru in the appellation; black volcanic pumice carpets vineyard
Guardiola	Delle Terre Nere	2		800 - 900	Very poor soil; volcanic sand mixed with basaltic pebbles and traces of ash	Both vineyards steeply sloped and slightly terraced
	Passopisciaro			800 - 1000	On the edge of the flow from the 1947 eruption
Feudo di Mezzo	Delle Terre Nere	2			Loose, deep volcanic ash with small volcanic pebbles	Terraced, traditional albarello plantings
	Frank Cornelissen			640		Porcaria Vineyard
	Girolamo Russo		1
Santo Spirito	Delle Terre Nere	2			Loose, deep, fine, jet-black volcanic ash
Arcuria	Graci	1	25	600 - 660	Brown rich texture of volcanic origin; pH-neutral; non-calcareous; from rich to very rich in iron; high nitrogen content	NM (15 ha), Carricante (1.5 ha), Catarratto (1 ha)
Barbabecchi	Graci			1000 - 1100	do.	2 ha of pre-Phylloxera NM
Monte Serra	Benanti			500	Sandy, volcanic, very rich in minerals with subacid reaction.
Ronzini	Biondi	2		640 - 700	Volcanic soil, red pumice	Parcels are named Chianta and Cisterna Fuori
San Nicolo’	Biondi			640	do.
Barbabechi	Frank Cornelissen			910
Chiusa Spagnola	Frank Cornelissen			620
Monte Colla	Frank Cornelissen			760
San Lorenzo	Girolamo Russo		12	700 - 800	Young, porous, rich volcanic rock with outcropping of older bedrock
Feudo	Girolamo Russo		6
Chiappemacine	Passopisciaro		1.2	550	Lies on the last outreach of Mount Etna’s lava; limestone bed beneath
Porcaria	Passopisciaro		1.5	650	Frail sheet of lava that splinters underfoot	Considered Mt Etna’s most famous and sought after contra
Sciaranuova	Passopisciaro		1	850	On relatively new, 200-yr-old lava flow that has turned into thick gravel
Rampante	Passopisciaro		1.4	1000	Sandy character

Sources: Tenutaterrenere.com; vinifranchetti.com; ibiondi.com; graci.eu; frankcornelissen.it.

A few points of note:

• As is the case for Burgundy, many of the crus are farmed by multiple estates. In the table above, both Delle Terre Nere and Passopisciaro farm on Contrada Guardiola while three estates farm on Feudo di Mezzo.
• The label on a vineyard may not always be at the contrada level. It could be a vineyard within a cru or a brand name. In the table above Ciro Biondi has two wines named Chianta and Cisterna but these both happen to be vineyard names of plots within the Ronzini Contrada. Further, while not shown here, there is an area called Pietramarina but the Benanti-labeled Pietra Marina is made from grapes sourced from Milo on the east side of the volcano.
• There are still some gaps in the interpretations of these conventions. For example, Cornelissen refers to a Porcaria Vineyard in the Feudo di Mezzo contrada while Passopisciaro speaks of a Contrada Porcaria. 

We will be especially vigilant in seeking out these contrada-related differences in the wines we taste later this week.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme