Eisele Vineyard (Calistoga, Napa Valley): A timeline

Wednesday of Premiere Napa Valley (PNV) week signals the official start, from my perspective, of the Hunt for the Auction Lot beginning with the tasting of the 20-case lots. This particular event was to be held at the Farmstead Restaurant at Long Meadow Ranch and we planned to attend after our scheduled visit to Eisele Vineyard.

Eisele Vineyard is the iconic Calistoga estate famed for its production of world-class Cabernet Sauvignons and Sauvignon Blancs. I was first introduced to this wine by a former neighbor in 1996 and and it has been a close companion ever since. I have won a Best-Cabernet competition held at The Wine Barn with a 2005 edition of this wine (The runner-up was a 1991 Dominus) and wowed attendees at the 2014 EWBC BYOB party in Montreux with a 2007 edition (Jaime Araujo was at the conference and spent a good part of the next day trying to find the person who had brought "her family's wine" over there.). All of the people that I drink wine with regularly hold this estate in high esteem.

This particular visit was arranged by Ron Siegel who had met Jean Gerandeau (Sales and Marketing Director, Artemis Domaines) at a Chateau Latour dinner held in Chicago by Hart Davis Hart. I had attended a Wine on the Way Araujo Wine Dinner with Antoine Donnedieu de Vabres (Estate Manager) just about a year ago and had had extensive dialogue with him on the integration and labeling strategy. I was excited to see what progress had been made since that discussion.

It was raining steadily for most of the travel from Yountville to the estate but the rain eased up just enough to allow us to make a dash from the parking lot to the office. Parlo and I were the first to arrive and were welcomed warmly by Sonia Guerlou, the Hospitality Manager.

The reception area was dominated by two exhibits of the estate's pedigree. First, on a table to the left stood a number of wine bottles, each displaying the label of a winemaker who had made vineyard-designated wines with grapes sourced from this vineyard. Second, directly opposite the entrance, a color map showing the various plots that comprise Eisele Vineyard.

Ron and Andrew finally showed up and the tour got underway. As it was still raining, we began our discourse in the office initially and then went outside once the rain stopped.

Sonia was warm, engaging, and knowledgeable. She kept stressing that they (the new owners) were not here to change things; rather, they were there to husband a tremendous resource that they had had the good fortune (and sense) to acquire.

Sonia Guerlou, Hospitality Manager

As Sonia explained it, Eisele Vineyard is located in northeast Napa Valley just east of Calistoga at the base of the Palisades Mountain Range. As shown in the timeline below, the vineyard's history stretches as far back as does the history of To Kalon and grapes have been planted continuously on the the property for the duration. The estate is 162 acres in size with 38 of those acres under vine.

When the vineyard was purchased by the Eiseles, they became 60+-year-old grapegrowers. They offered their grapes to Paul Draper of Ridge and he produced a vineyard-designated wine in 1971.

The Araujos bought the vineyard in 1990 and, in short order, built a winery and produced a wine under their own label. The 1991 harvest was shared between Joseph Phelps and the Araujos and they both produced wines under their individual labels.

During their tenure, the Araujos elevated the property from a great vineyard to one of the world's great estates. They introduced organic (1998) and biodynamic (2000) farming with all herbs and preparations used in the latter management process sourced from the vineyard.

As Sonia kept pointing out, Artemis Domaines purchased an iconic estate that was at the top of its game and that had a strong and loyal customer base. As in any acquisition of this type, the operating principle is "do no harm." That is, do not give the customer base any reason to think that the new owners are making wholesale changes just for the sake of making changes. The challenge for the new owners was seeking to establish an identity separate from the Araujos without giving the impression that they were changing the core product (which was a very high-value product to begin with).

The strategy chosen was to elevate the vineyard name above all else. This goal was accomplished over a three-year period of "gentle, subtle changes." The result is shown in the photo below. The 1991 label shows the vineyard name in the center and the estate name in the bottom right. Both of these bodies of text have similar size. The final label has only the vineyard name on the label and the font is larger than on the 1991 label.

I will cover the physical aspects of the estate and the changes that Artemis has made to the wine in a follow-up post.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Walking the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard with Andy Beckstoffer and Tor Kenward (Tor Kenward Family Wines)

According to Esther Mobley of the San Francisco Chronicle:

Andy Beckstoffer is a legend in California wine ... The grape grower owns what is certainly California's most famous, and probably most expensive, vineyard: To Kalon, in the heart of Napa Valley. To Kalon is a vineyard with an aura. Winemakers speak in hushed tones about the prospect of handling its Cabernet; wines that bear the vineyard's name drown in 100-point scores.

And we were scheduled to visit this vineyard on the Tuesday of PNV week on a tour organized by Tor Kenward -- for the Wine on the Way team -- and led by the selfsame Andy Beckstoffer.

Tor had provided us with directions to the meeting point (shown on the map below) and we all mostly arrived at the same time. It was cold and spitting but we were oblivious to the elements; we were warm with anticipation.

While we awaited Andy's arrival, Tor provided us with his perspective on the vineyard:

Tor Kenward Family Wines has worked with eight different blocks since 2005 and has gravitated to the leaner soils in the western back blocks higher on the bench. We have worked with all the clones except clone 7, and have two blocks of rare Cabernet Franc. Our goal is to keep all the blocks separate and each year simply make the best wines we can from the diversity of the different clones, blocks and varieties present.

The picture below shows some of the more well-known Beckstoffer To Kalon producers and the vineyard blocks from which they source grapes.

Tor Kenward (center) warming up for Andy

And then Andy arrived. He was genial and quick with a smile. He welcomed each of us with a warm handshake and an apology for the weather. He was dressed as though he had just stepped off the farm tractor but the twinkle in his eye signaled that he might be wearing monogrammed underwear beneath the farmer gear.

Andy Beckstoffer on point

After some catching up, we headed off along the path indicated on the first vineyard map in this post and displayed in the picture below.

Heading out to traverse the vineyard

As noted by Esther Mobley, Beckstoffer To Kalon wines receive high scores and demand a premium in the marketplace. But when you speak to the winemakers, the conversation eventually comes around to a discussion of Andy's pricing mechanism for grapes sourced from this vineyard. As described by Alder Yarrow, "His contracts with customers specify three pricing scenarios for the grapes: a fixed price per ton, a fixed price per acre, and a fixed multiplier of the winery's suggested retail price per bottle, with a required minimum bottle price." According to Yarrow, the per acre price is insurance against a winemaker restricting the crop to "unusually" low levels.

That pricing mechanism reflects Andy's feeling about the primacy of this vineyard in the construction of high-quality wines. As he explained it during our walk, when he started out, he had the option of providing the fruit to a single winemaker. But, under that scenario, all of the talk would be about a great winemaker. If, however, he provides fruit to 20 winemakers, and they all make great wines, then the dialogue is about a great vineyard. And that is why he wants to speak to the winemaker prior to providing fruit to a producer. He wants to make an evaluation as to whether that winemaker can truly represent the vineyard.

Back in the 1980s, he continued, the better wines were reserve wines, the product of winemaking. Today the the best wines are expressions of terroir and he has brought every modern approach to viticulture to the vineyard in order to ensure that he is producing absolutely the best grapes. In the current partnership model, the winery is responsible for yields and harvest timing while he is responsible for all other aspects of viticulture. The vineyard is managed sustainably.

Andy mentioned that they will be initiating a replanting of the vineyard, an effort that will unfold over a 10-year period. He will be replacing the current rootstock -- 039-16 -- with a UC-Davis-developed derivative with the nomenclature GRN 1 and GRN 3. The current rootstock is too vigorous and is not as nematode-resistant as he would like. The nematode problem in the vineyard results in production levels of 1.6 tons/acre in some areas versus an average of 3.5 tons/acre overall. The replacement rootstock has lower vigor, higher nematode resistance, and a higher level of Phylloxera resistance.

The replanting plan is complex and will require some pain-sharing among the fruit purchasers. They were recently informed of the plan by mail. Andy's plan is that when a buyer's plot (or portion of a plot) is designated for replanting, his/her neighbor will be asked to share a portion of their fruit with the affected party. The upshot of this plan is that both parties will be subjected to reduced grape totals until that replanted plot becomes productive again (3 - 5 years in Andy's estimation, 5 - 7 years in mine).

By this time we had spent over an hour discussing the vineyard, pricing philosophy, grower-winemaker relationships, and the replant. It was time to begin heading back and we fell naturally into two groups. Tor and Andy went ahead of us (Tor now had quality time to bend Andy's ear) while we followed at a more measured pace giddily discussing the things that we had heard and learned. This had been a very enlightening visit.

Note: The configuration of the vineyard has been described in a previous post.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard: History, configuration, and vineyard management

When my good friend Adam Chilvers of Orlando-based online retailer Wine on the Way invited me to accompany his PNV 2017 group on a tour of the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard -- said tour to be led by Tor Kenward of Tor Kenward Family Vineyards -- I jumped at the opportunity. When Adam called me again a few weeks later and said that Andy Beckstoffer -- proprietor of the named vineyard -- would be accompanying us on the walk-through, I jumped even higher.

Having previously written on the history of the broader To Kalon Vineyard, I saw this as an opportunity to walk on the hallowed ground that had supported the production of exceedingly high-quality grapes for well over a century as well as to hear from one of the legends who had maintained and brightened the flame. Before I describe the tour, I would like to provide some background on the subject vineyard.

The figure below summarizes the history of the Beckstoffer To Kalon vineyard.

Deriving from the original plots purchased by Hamilton Crabb in the latter part of the 19th Century, this specific component was first broken out when it was sold to Beaulieu Vineyard where it was given the designation Vineyard #4 and gained renown as the home of the great Georges de Latour Cabernet Sauvignons created by Andre Tchelistcheff. The vineyard was acquired by Andy Beckstoffer in 1993 where it today has pride of place in his stable of Heritage Vineyards.

The Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard, illustrated graphically in the map below, is located on the western edge of the Oakville AVA. The table below the map shows the distribution of varieties and clones in the vineyard today. The current distribution was arrived at in a replanting program that was rolled out between 1994 and 1997.

Table 1: Distribution of Varieties and Clones in Beckstoffer to Kalon Vineyard

Variety	Clone	Rootstock	Acres	Cab Sauv %	Cab Franc%
Cabernet Sauvignon	4	039-16	37.9	48
	357	039-16	31.92	31.92
	7	039-16	4.3	6
	6	039-16	4.29	5
Total			78.41	100
Cabernet Franc	1	039-16	4.63		100

According to information gleaned from Beckstoffer Vineyards, the soils are 60% Bale loam and 40% Bale clay loam. These soils provide quality drainage and adequate rooting depth as a result of loam in the first 24 inches and a gravelly loam in the subsequent 24 inches.

Vineyard management is the purview of the Beckstoffer team (the winemaker has responsibility for pick date and yields) and they have opted for the following management configuration:

Trellis System:      Vertical shoot positioning
Row Orientation:  Northwest by Southeast
Vine Spacing:        82% 6 x 7 (1037 vines/acre)
                               18% 8 x 7 (778 vines/acre)
Pruning:                Spur-Pruned to a bi-lateral cordon system

The actual vineyard tour will be discussed in a subsequent post.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Premiere Napa Valley 2017: First-Day activities

Premiere Napa Valley (PNV) is the Napa Valley Vintners annual, invitation-only, barrel auction for wine retailers, wholesalers, restaurateurs, and members of the press.  Auction proceeds go towards the trade association's promotional and other activities on behalf of valley winemakers. The 2017 edition of event concluded on Saturday last with the barrel auction at Greystone which raised a total of $4.2 million. 

For many attendees, time spent with winery owners and winemakers prior to the start of the officially sanctioned events is a critically important aspect of the week's activities. I arrived in Yountville on the Tuesday of the week and, shortly after depositing my luggage at the hotel, hightailed it over to Oakville to meet up with the Wine on the Way team for a walkthrough of the Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard. This visit had been organized by Tor Kenward — Tor Kenward Family Vineyards —  both as a gesture to his good friend Adam Chilvers — proprietor of Wine on the Way — and as a reward to the team for purchasing the TOR PNV lot in the prior year.

The intersection just prior to the Oakville Grocery (as you head towards St. Helena on Highway 29) is called Walnut Drive. If you turn left into Walnut Drive from Highway 29, Beckstoffer To Kalon is to your right. We gathered at the first path on the right to begin our walk through the vineyard. It was rainy and somewhat cold but the excitement of the moment overrode any discomfort brought on by the elements. Once Andy showed up, we embarked on what turned out to be an intriguing and exciting tour and discussion. I will cover the trip in greater detail in a subsequent post.

Andy Beckstoffer (3rd from left) and Tor Kenward (2nd from
right) were our hosts on the tour of the To Kalon Vineyard

At the conclusion of the tour, we drove to Cindy’s Back Street Kitchen for lunch and a promised treat from Tor of tasting a range of his 2015 barrel samples. Shortly after we settled in, Tor pulled out clear bottles of his 2015 To Kalon Cabernet, Oakville Propriety Blend,  and Black Magic, a Cabernet Sauvignon that is only produced in special years. These wines were all loaded with promise. Tor also brought along a bottle of his 2012 Beckstoffer To Kalon and a bottle of a 2004 wine that he had made while still an employee at Beringer. 

After a long, leisurely lunch we traveled up to Pritchard Hill to visit the Colgin IX estate, a 20-acre vineyard located on the upper reaches of the famed Pritchard Hill. While on the way up we gained an impressive reminder of the current water state of the region as demonstrated by the release of water from Lake Hennessey through a highly active spillway.

Later that evening I was a guest at the Wine on the Way BYOB party, a party famous both for the wines that are opened as well as the attendee list. This is a great annual event that is held at the home that the group rents for PNV week. My wife and I had so much fun that we were among the last to leave. Guests included Donald Patz (Patz and Hall), Robin Lail (Lail Vineyards), Sam Kaplan (Arkenstone), and Michelle Baguette (Alpha Omega) among others.

Photo credit: Erin Shay

So by the end of the first day, I had collected material for three blog posts and had made a number of contacts/tentative arrangements for future winery visits.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Pre-Phylloxera vines and albarello training in Mt Etna viticulture

In a recent Mt. Etna wine masterclass held in London, Ian D'Agata pronounced that a combination of three factors contribute to the "special" nature of the region's wines: (i) an alpine climate in a Mediterranean land; (ii) volcanic soils: and (iii) the predominance of ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines (http://www.decanter.com/wine-news/opinion/the-editors-blog/etna-wines-volcanic-soil-306217/). I have previously discussed the unique Etna climate and its volcanic soils and contradas. In this post I discuss these pre-Phylloxera vines and their historic training system.

French vineyards had been decimated by the Phylloxera infestation of the late 1860s, causing French winemakers to cast far afield for sources of supply to fulfill the consumer demand for wine. The French misfortune led to increased demand for wines from Spain, Algeria, and Sicily. According to Eric Asimov, the heyday of demand for Etna wines from France saw a total of 48,562 ha planted to vines on the mountain.

As was the case for Algeria and Spain, Phylloxera did eventually invade Etna but the impact was most felt at altitudes of 400 m and below where sedimentary sols dominated. According to Nesto and di Savino (The World of Sicilian Wine), the decimated vineyards at those altitudes were replaced with citrus fruit trees and new vineyards were planted at higher altitudes where the soils had greater proportions of lava rock and volcanic sand and were resistant to the depradations of the aphid. According to the authors, these new vineyards joined an existing belt of vineyards resident on the northern slope between Solicchiata and Randazzo.

The remnants of that belt of vineyards are today's pre-Phylloxera vineyards of which Ian D'Agata speaks so highly. The picture directly below shows a pre-Phylloxera vine from the Tenuta delle Terre Nere vineyard while the table below that shows a selection of labels from these old vines.

Pre-phylloxra vine. Source: tenutaterrenere.com

Table 1: A selection of the pre-Phylloxera vineyards used in wines from Etna.

Producer	Label	Vineyard	Contrada	Size (ha)	Vineyard Age (yrs)	Training System
I Vigneri	Vinupetra	Calderara	Feudo di Mezzo	0.5	100	Albarello
	Vinudilice	Bosco		0.35	100+	do.
Tenuta Terre Nere	Prephylloxera	Don Peppino	Calderara Sottano	0.8	130 - 140	do.
Graci	Quota 1000		Barbabecchi	2	100+	do.
Pietradolce	Vigna Barbagalli	Barbagalli	Rampante		80 - 100	do.
	Rampante	Barbagalli	Rampante		80 - 100	do.
	Archineri Etna Bianco				100 - 120	do.
Frank Cornelissen	Magma Rosso		Barbabecchi		100+	do.
	Munjebel Rosso Chiusa	Zottorinoto	Chiusa Spagnolo		90+	do.
	Munjebel Rosso Vigne Alta		Barbabecchi, Tartaraci, Monte Dolce		90+	do.
	Munjebel Bianco Vigne Alta		Tartaraci		90+	do.

And these pre-Phylloxera vineyards had all been albarello-trained (As were all vines planted prior to the introduction of the Guyot training system.). Albarello training was well suited to the Etna environment. According to Nesto and di Savinio:

• Its free-standing configuration aids in withstanding the high winds to which the mountain is prone
• The 360-degree exposure to light aids in the ripening of the fruit
• The black soil readily absorbs radiation from the sun and warms up. The low training of the vines allow them to take advantage of that heat and ripen the grapes faster than would other training systems
• This low training also allows for more rapid evaporation of water through the skin of the ripe fruit, resulting in greater sugar concentration in the fruit (and higher alcohol in the wine)
• The vine conserves the humidity arising from the ground, a plus in dry growing conditions.

Albarello-trained vines in Etna are planted at densities of 8000 to 10,000 vines/ha dictating costly manual labor for vineyard work. Many of the old vineyards have lost their uniformity due to the practice of replacing damaged vines by sticking one of the branches into the ground where it takes root.

The Albarello system was dominant on the mountain until growers turned first to the Guyot system -- the first half of the 20th century -- and  the cordon-spur system -- beginning in the 1950s -- for new vineyard plantings.


©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