Passopisciaro

In 2000, before Etna and its ancient vineyards become a place of pilgrimage by winemakers, and home to a new generation of wineries, Andrea Franchetti decided that he would create an estate on the slopes of the volcano. Passopisciaro winery was created, with 40 acres in the town of Castiglione di Sicilia, on the north side of Etna, at about a thousand meters altitude, where he vinified grapes from old and very old vines from the area. The first wine produced at Passopisciaro was a Nerello Mascalese; brilliant ruby in color, with a perfume of great elegance, extraordinary mineral depth that characterizes the great wines of Etna. Andrea's vision moved forward with the planting of high-altitude vineyards in order to dramatically reduce the yields with no risk of overripeness or excessive alcohol. In 2009, we started producing wines that are named The Contrade Etna: Porcaria, Guardiola, Chiappemacine, Sciaranuova, Rampante. Contradas are differen Mount Etna crus, ancient feudal properties which over time were split but still well mapped. Andrea Franchetti realized immediately that the as grapes reachd the cellar, each gave different wines depending on the district came from. The contradas are each on a lava flow with different minerals, grain size and altitude: this has led to Andrea making wines separately from each Contrada.

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