Vineyards
Our vineyards lie in two distinct area: the Belice Valley between Poggioreale and Contessa Entellina, and in the Alcamo countryside. Our estate comprises a total of 120 hectares.
This is not just a figure of speech. In order to express the terroir, the wine must originate from painstaking agricultural work which begins many months before the harvest: winter pruning stimulates vegetative recovery and the proper development of the leaves to protect the fruit, thinning or green pruning in the summer that limits the quantity of clusters in favor of increasing quality, innovative organic treatments, and continuous analysis of the health of the plant.
Poggioreale and Contessa Entellina
Our vineyards are located at the meeting point of the two tributaries of the Belice River, Belice Destro (right) and Belice Sinistro (left): an exceptional juncture, in every sense of the word. On the north side in between the two tributaries stands a steep promontory on which we grow white varietals. The elevation gains quickly from 200 to 500 meters above sea level. Exposure to the midday sun, temperature variations between day and night, and the constant breezes from the river gorge are conditions that give the white wines an elevated freshness and beautiful aromatics. South of the promontory, where the two branches of the river join, we enter the well-known Contessa Entellina area. Here lies a different terroir, albeit one contiguous to the former: the hills are gentler and the medium-textured soils with alluvial origin make for elegant and long-lasting red wines. A part of the land is reserved to ecological regrowth, where animals and insects can live and reproduce.
Viticulture: a yearlong commitment
After the war, our grandfather Paolo extended his vineyards from Alcamo towards the Belice Valley where he found all the essential elements for the production of excellent grapes (and therefore, wines!) With him came a devoted group of people who still work with us tirelessly, and who embody the wisdom and savoir fare of the Alcamo winemakers, a wealth of inherited knowledge that we believe in steadfastly. One such local tradition that we carry forward is the “manganiàta”: a practice done at the time of pruning where we press each shoot with our fingers, applying pressure that ensures the plants a more vigorous and homogeneous vegetative resumption the following season. All these traditional tricks are part of a precise philosophy: to make a year-round commitment in order to harvest grapes that speak for themselves.