Pollux Membership May 2023: Leader of the Pack and Perfect Harmony
Vines in the shadow of the ominously rumbling Mount Etna, Sicily.
“Leader of the Pack”
Salvo Foti “Vigna di Milo” Etna Bianco Superiore Caselle, Sicily, Italy 2020
In 1435 in Catania, Sicily, winegrowers working in the shadow of Mount Etna established what was then called the “Maestranza dei Vigneri”, an association that called for standards in grapegrowing and wine production. That was nearly 600 years ago, a different age surely, but one with parallels to the present day, when in 2000 Etna native and renowned oenologist Salvo Foti put together a team that would be largely, if not entirely, responsible for the region’s qualitative transformation and return to the ecologically friendly ways of traditional farming. Salvo’s group, I Vigneri, began making wine and consulting for a veritable who’s who of Etna DOC wineries. Hiring Salvo’s considerable talents came with a price, or at the very least, an ideological shift: a winery who clamored for Foti’s winemaking skills was also required to have the I Vigneri team take care of the vineyards, immediately shifting to organic viticultural practices, lowering yields, and harvesting by hand. Currently, over 35 lifelong Etna farmers are members of Foti’s I Vigneri team, caring for thousands of hectares of Etna vines. However, rather than pick at random from a slew of good producers, to truly understand Salvo Foti the man and the Etna region of Sicily’s terroir and challenges, I wanted to go a little further, featuring not just a wine that Salvo made, but one from his own personal small vineyard plot, produced in minute quantities (333 cases on average annually), and available in Virginia solely by special order. I found all of these criteria in one delicious white wine: the Vigna di Milo.
Salvo Foti’s attention to detail is evident in the meticulously plotted vineyards used to produce the Vigna di Milo.
The Etna DOC, wrapped around the eastern side of the mountain like a reverse crescent moon, is at once an exuberant and tenuous place to make wine: the rumblings of this active volcano often result in eruptions, which can wipe out one plot of vineyards while forever changing the landscape and soil conditions of others in short order. To make wine here requires a high level of technical skill, and the tenuousness of sites often means that particular contrada, or single vineyards, are both in demand and more than a little necessary. Around the small village of Milo, located in eastern Etna at around 750 meters above sea level (the Etna DOC has vines that grow between 800 and 1,000 meters, making them some of the highest vineyard sites in all of Europe), there is a small plot of just .80 hectares that is planted with around 6,000 vines, yielding less than 350 cases of wine annually. This is Salvo Foti’s own personal plot that he shares with his two sons, and from which the Vigna di Milo is produced. Using an ancient Etnean technique called “Maguioli” (“Mallet”), these vines were cut directly with no American rootstock used-the resulting ungrafted grapevines produce some of the most stunning white wine I have tasted in some time-an astounding mix of the steely mineral character expected from these volcanic soils, and a flavor profile that seems born of the word “expressive”. The indigenous varietal that provides this level of flavor and sophistication is the principle white grape of the Etna DOC: Carricante.
The lush, golden hues of the Carricante grape.
Historically, the Carricante varietal was supposedly grown all over Sicily, but today it is almost entirely found in the east and northeast of the island, and particularly within the shadow of Mount Etna. Despite its importance in the Etna DOC, there are still only 200 hectares planted there overall, so the wine is a rare delight. Reading literature on Carricante, you will see a lot of comparisons to dry Riesling, but I am not one to dwell on making parallel allusions from one grape to another: Carricante is distinct and unique, posessing some of Riesling’s trademark petrol on the nose and apple on the palate, but there is so much more texturally here than the Riesling grape can give. The acidity remains elevated but not to a level of sharpness (the Vigna di Milo’s Carricante has an average pH of 3.0), and the fullness of texture that the wine possesses offers a perfect counterbalancing act-the climate of Sicily, much warmer than most regions where Riesling thrives, helps to bring a cornucopia of fruit and secondary flavors to the Vigna di Milo. Carricante does, however, also retain a lovely lower alcohol level (12%), which enables more of these flavors to be experienced without worry of an overpowering finish. Quite simply, it is easily seen (and tasted) why Salvo Foti’s methods have led him to the forefront of the I Vigneri group, and how centuries of tradition are today being upheld and build upon here amongst the magma and firelight-D.
Salvo Foti “Vigna di Milo” Etna Bianco Superiore Caselle, Sicily 2020
Country of Origin: Italy.
Places and People: The term "Maestanza dei Vigneri" ("Winegrowers Guild") was established in Catania in 1435, and today a company of winegrowers operating around Mount Etna in eastern Sicily has chosen the term I Vigneri to carry on the tradition of excellence in wine production; Salvo Foti is the winemaker for many estates and the leader of the collective, but the Vigna di Milo comes from his own personal holdings-a tiny .80 hectare parcel planted in part with the ancient Etnean technique of "Magliuoli"; mallet cuttings that are found directly growing without the aid of American rootstocks (ungrafted).
Soil: Volcanic ash and sand.
Grape Varieties: 100% Carricante.
Winemaking: The vines are tended biodynamically with only natural products; harvesting is done by hand. Whole grape bunches are pressed directly and remain static for 30 hours, with natural settling occurring. 13-15 days of fermentation is carried out in large 2,000 liter wooden barrels.
Aging: The Vigna di Milo is aged in these same 2,000 liter casks; the wine is racked and bottled according to lunar cycles. Filtration is extremely mild and only occurs at bottling.
Flavors and Foods: Oh, how I wish I could have gotten more of this 333-case production! The Vigna di Milo is a stunning example of what can occur on volcanic soil under the care of a top winegrower. Salvo Foti's skill is evident in all phases of the Vigna di Milo 2020: a nose of yellow apple, bosque pear, and more exotic flavors (pineapple, mango) followed by their taste equivalents on the palate, with an amazing balance of round, full body and acidity. This wine drinks elegantly and will have you feeling like a vinous sophisticate in no time. Pair with chicken or turkey piccata with lemon and capers, eggplant parmigiano, a classic porchetta roast, or hard tangy cheeses with accompaniments (a high-end Pecorino would be amazing).
Service and Cellar: Like many fuller-bodied whites, the Vigna di Milo works best in the upper range of white wine service temperature (50-52 degrees); this 2020 vintage feels primed to age well-drink now or cellar with confidence for the next 7-8 years (if you have the discipline to leave it be!)
The Trapani countryside as seen from the Firriato estate, Sicily.
“Perfect Harmony”
Firriato “Harmonium” Nero d’Avola, DOC Sicilia, Italy 2018
Coming of age in the wine business in the early-mid 2000s, at arguably the height of wine writing’s critic-laden influence over both wine sales and the actual winemaking itself, has been a blessing in disguise: from the now-tired trends of points ratings, shelf talkers, and blase tasting notes that read as though they were created with modern-day AI technology, I have derived a few rules to drink by:
Vintage assessments are useful guideposts at best, and a wholesale dismissal or acceptance of any region’s wines solely based on the harvest year serves to both arm dilettantes with the little knowledge they need to be dangerous, while inspiring neither them nor anyone else to bother digging deeper into the offerings of winemakers who may have managed to transcend whatever difficulties nature had in store.
Anyone who has their name turned into a noun in an effort to describe their staggering influence on a particular industry (“Parkerization”, the change of wine style due to critic Robert Parker, stands as the prime example in the wine industry) is someone whose opinion is worth reading but should also be readily dismissed if necessary.
There is a distinct difference between winemakers whose sound ecological practices and discreet employment of technological advances serve to modernize and elevate the potential of a region’s output, and the rote homogenization of a wine style just to make the wine more “accessible” or achieve critical praise. Holding to my “Keep and Open Wine” philosophy, while there are notable exceptions, the “crafting” of a wine in the cellar, with the goal of having the wine stripped of its terroir and robbed of any sense of place is usually a wine that, for me, isn’t worth drinking.
The last of my little maxims comes in particular handy when examining a grape that has been part of my lexicon since that age of wine writing 20+ years ago: Sicily’s great red grape, Nero d’Avola.
Harvesting the limited quantities of Harmonium in small crates-production comes in under 4,000 cases annually.
I remember my first Nero d’Avola taste quite well: I was working at a wine bar in college, and there we had by the glass a humble little wine from the Sicilian estate Dievole. The wine was called “Pinocchio” and had a decidedly cute rendering of the famous puppet on its front label (they still make it, you can look it up, see the pricepoint, and know instantly how humble of a wine I’m describing). I remember being drawn to the character of the fruit in Nero d’Avola; a mix of red and black berries, with varietal spice and often a decidedly prunish character, the wine was one of my first examples, however lowly, of an “Old World” varietal with an actual savory profile (remember, this was a time when wine drinkers would describe 16% alcohol Australian Shiraz as “medium-bodied”). As I grew to love the exploration that comes with wine study, I went down the rabbit hole of Sicily wines, discovering more (and more ambitious) examples of Nero d’Avola, and came to love its ability to show off freshly authentic fruit and body weight, with tannins and acid following close behind but never dominant the way they are in other Italian grapes (acid in Sangiovese and Corvina, tannin in Nebbiolo and Aglianico).
When I moved to Washington in 2008, I remember vividly my first trade tasting with a very well-known importer possessing a firmly fleshed-out Italian portfolio; I went to the tasting fully ready to be blown away by some of the latest vintages of, among others, higher-end Nero d’Avola. To my surprise and disappointment, however, some of the biggest names featured had wines on the table that drank curiously anonymously. Each bottling seemed to show less and less of the authentic fruit that I had come to love and more…well, everything: more fruit, more alcohol, more intrusive new oak notes. In short, it felt like the obsession with ratings and marketing had essentially taken the Nero d’Avola out of the wines, and they all tasted similarly, which is to say that they really didn’t taste like anything but red wine: their sense of place was completely buried under over-extracted sugary fruit, alcohol, and wood. With a variety that is more ubiquitous around the world, I still wouldn’t have been happy, but with Nero d’Avola, whose niche was for me rooted in its unique ability to express the island of Sicily, such a change of direction was enough to distance myself from the grape, which I did as both a sommelier and then as a retail buyer until, happily, the pendulum of wine stylistically swung, back towards the equilibrium of nuanced, balanced winemaking, and I was able to find a selection that married Nero d’Avola’s tradition with the desire of elevating it to a top-tier wine. Enter the Trapani estate of Firriato, and their prestige cuvee, fittingly named “Harmonium”.
Nero d’Avola grapes in the basket; harvest at Firriato in Trapani, Sicily.
Firriato is a company that is comprised of multiple estates across Sicily, but all are farmed ecologically and the production size of each separate property remains artisanal. Firriato’s concentration is in the western part of the island, around their hometown of Trapani, and the “Harmonium” comes from three small single vineyard “crus” on land owned by Borgo Guarini. Quick geography geek note: the Nero d’Avola grape is associated in its very name with the town of its origin (“Black grape of Avola”); Avola is in the southeast of the island, and although Nero d’Avola is planted all over Sicily as its chief red variety, only wines from the area around Avola can use the local Eloro appellation) -hence the “Harmonium”’s generic DOC Sicilia appellation status.
The Guarini estate is located at about 300 meters above sea level on calcareous soils, and the “Harmonium”’s call for balance is reflected in the sites: each of the three vineyards has a different exposure (Ferla’s Cru is a cooler location facing northeast, Beccaccia’s Cru due south, with Lepre’s Cru a more traditional south-east). First produced by Firriato in 1997, the “Harmonium” is a window into both the more savory flavor profiles that I enjoyed in the nascent stages of my Nero d’Avola fandom, and what this grape can do if treated as a prestige wine. Hand-harvested grapes in small 20 kg containers are vinified in steel and aged in French and large American barrels for 20 months; the natural ripeness of Nero d’Avola is not throttled (abv of 14.8%), but the aging in wood allows for gentle aeration and softening, while the pH level remains on the higher side, bringing a lower acidity and shying away from the rancio-esque bitter notes the Nero d’Avola grape will occasionally bring when handled poorly. At a production level that tops out at 3,750 cases, the “Harmonium”, like its musical namesake, retains the origins of Nero d’Avola while proving to be a bottle that is suited to our tastes now, which, thankfully, have returned to a place that has me capable of continuing to flout my rule #3-D.
Firriato “Harmonium” Nero d’Avola, DOC Sicilia 2018
Country of Origin: Italy.
Places and People: The Firriato company works with small estates across Sicily, but is mainly concentrated in the western part of the island, and the grapes for Harmonium come from three small single vineyards on the estate of farmer Bruno Guarini, outside of Trapani. Planted with three different exposures, the three crus strike a balance of ripeness that is evident on the palate of “Harmonium”.
Soil: Calcareous.
Grape Varieties: 100% Nero d’Avola.
Winemaking: From cordon-trained, spur pruned vines at 300 meters above sea level, the grapes for the “Harmonium” are hand-harvested and undergo fermentation for 14 days at a controlled temperature of 24-26 degrees C.
Aging: The “Harmonium” spends 20 months in both French and large American barrels, followed by an additional one-year maturation period in the bottle prior to release.
Flavors and Foods: The “Harmonium” opens with a strong savory note of charcuterie/cured meat on the nose, along with smoked salt, red currants, and chipotle; cedar, aloe, and vanilla give hints of the barrel aging but blow off quickly. The palate is a mix of red and black cherries and currants-longer maceration give the “Harmonium”’s cherries a macerated quality. Brighter red fruit notes of red apple skins and pomegranate serve to alleviate any tendency towards over-extraction. Vanilla bean and baking spice notes once again appear on the palate-for me, the wood maturation is clean and correct but in this early stage of the wine’s lifespan the wine requires decanting prior to service (see below). The amazing thing about these oak flavor profile notes is that they are not accompanied by drying wood tannins; the long finish of the “Harmonium” is also texturally smooth. This wine is a perfect example of Nero d’Avola, but goes further in attempting to place Nero d’Avola in a different stratosphere. Pair with grilled and seasoned meats such as lamb, pork (loin, shoulder, or sausage) and fattier steak (Nero d’Avola’s fruit is so abundant that more iron-heavy cuts such as tenderloin don’t work as well).
Service and Cellar: As noted in the tasting notes, for me the “Harmonium” is just beginning its life, and as such the presence of new wood flavor notes (although thankfully not the tannin and oxidation that often accompany them) requires either decanting if serving now or time in the cellar. Keep the serving temperature at the lower end of red wine cellar temps (58 degrees) to allow the ripeness of Nero d’Avola to show itself sans alcohol, and I recommend serving the “Harmonium” in wider glasses (Burgundy). Decanting of one hour is recommended for service of the 2018, and I expect this wine to outlive the 2020s and drink deliciously until its 15-year mark.