Grapes come from small plots on the north face of Mount Etna, located between 550 and 900 metres above sea level. Their soils are of volcanic origin and the vines are approximately 50 years old. They are cultivated manually, without chemicals or fertilizers, and are harvested by hand.
It is vatted and fermented with native yeasts in a cement tank without temperature control. The must-wine macerates with the skins for 5 days, and once the fermentation is finished, the wine is refined for 8 months in a used oak barrel. Lastly, it is bottled without being clarified or filtered, to prevent these processes from removing aromas, body and personality from the wine.
Eduardo Torres Acosta, a young winemaker from the Canary Islands, first began working with vines in Tenerife where his father (a local postman) had a small plot of land. In 2012 Eduardo moved to Sicily, where he interned at Azienda Arianna Occhipinti.
Up until the 2017 vintage, the grapes were harvested and then transported to Arianna Occhipinti’s estate in Vittoria. Since the winemaking facility was not on Etna, the wines were not allowed DOC status and simply carried the IGT Terre Siciliane designation. In 2018, Eduardo was able to convert a small Etna garage into a winery but has decided to keep the wines IGT.
Eduardo Torres Versante Nord Bianco, IGT Terre Siciliane 2018
Italy