La Vota vineyard enjoys a special microclimate along the border of the Belice River Natural Reservation

A late spring is quite uncommon in Menfi.
Heavy rainfalls over the last three weeks are causing major inconvenience to farm works in the Belice Valley 

Sicily in May is a real beauty: flowers, blue skies and warm temperatures are ideal conditions to enjoy nature

Le immagini di una delle operazioni più delicate prima della vendemmia: la defoliazione, indispensabile per la qualità delle uve.

Dietro le Case is Cantine Barbera's old vineyard of Inzolia: salinity, freshness and aromatic finesse are its main character

Grazie al bel tempo di questa settimana, a Menfi le prime gemme stanno iniziando a schiudersi e i vigneti sono un tappeto verde di erbe spontanee.

Microcosmo, the perfect marriage between Perricone and Nerello Mascalese, two beautiful wine grapes of Sicily

L'irrigazione di soccorso è una pratica agronomica che, in annate molto calde e siccitose, contribuisce a migliorare la qualità delle uve, supportando il metabolismo delle viti e garantendo al vigneto l'indispensabile nutrimento.

La nuova vigna di Inzolia è stata piantata utilizzando le marze della nostra selezione massale ottenute dal vigneto Dietro le Case, che da 40 anni ci da splendide uve.

Dietro le Case: una vecchia vigna di Inzolia a due passi dal mare e dalle caratteristiche aromatiche molto particolari.

Come facciamo la potatura: interamente a mano, per rispettare le viti e il loro potenziale produttivo.

TENUTA BELICELLO

If you want to understand my wines you need to see the Mediterranean Sea.
The boundless deep blue sea, the white, yellow and ochre beach that stretches for dozens and dozens of miles, the beautiful sandy dunes shaped by fresh breezes, covered with wild lilies and canes and reeds and tamarisks, where small black beetles draw endless doodles, where turtles lay their eggs, where gray herons and all sorts of birds come to rest during their neverending migrations.

Vines living so close to the ocean that they can turn the sea brine into vibrant salinity. Vineyards that enjoy mild winters and warm dry summers, and large temperature gaps between night and day. Ripe berries, tasty and sweet, that smell of sunshine and of a gentle Mediterranean wind.

There is the Inzolia that my grandfather planted in early 1920’s and has so well adapted to the sea brine that you won’t believe she could live anywhere else. There are the vineyards that my father brought to Belicello experimenting with international grapes: Chardonnay, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon, which you may now look askance, but were the new frontier 30 years ago.

And then, there’s what I chose to grow: Grillo, Catarratto, Zibibbo, Perricone, Catanese, Alicante, Nero d’Avola, Frappato.

MENFI, SICILY: MY HOMELAND, THE PLACE I LOVE

La Costa

In the eastern part of Belicello the terrain is very deep and calcareous, with plenty of lime stones. The soil minerals give the grapes a pleasant complexity, a good structure and amazing aromatic development.

The old vines of Inzolialive here, in the vineyard Dietro le Case, as well as a new vineyard that I have reproduced through massal selection in 2007. Walking uphill, the Nero d’Avola that I use for La Bambina.

>>> see the vineyard sheet

Sottostrada

At the foot of the hill, limestones give way to alluvial clays, mixing together. The soil is well drained, dark, and rich in organic matter.

Here I planted a small Nocellara del Belìce olive grove and the younger vineyards: Frappato, Grecanico and Catarratto, ancient and fascinating varieties that tell the story of Menfi's terroir.

Il Pozzo

The main part of the vineyards grows in the heart of Belicello, a very fertile area with clayey soils. The rich terrain is the key for the vineyards' nutrition, granting the grapes a full ripening and solid structure.

Grillo, Zibibbo, Perricone and Alicante grow in this area, as well as some international varieties planted by my father in the 1990's, and enjoy the fresh breeze blowing from the sea.

>>> see the vineyard sheet

La Vota

La Vota is an ancient loop of the Belice River, placed alongside its eastern border, where my father planted the Cabernet Sauvignon.

Once covered by swamps and reeds, it is today a very fertile area and consists mainly in yellowish alluvial sands that also contain a good clay silty fraction.

During the rainy seasons it is occasionally affected by the river's flood.

 

Maggio in Sicilia: la natura rigogliosa e i lavori in vigna più delicati, da svolgere con pazienza.

La vigna del Microcosmo e il un matrimonio felice tra due splendide uve siciliane: Perricone e Nerello Mascalese.

La Vota: un microclima molto particolare ai margini della Riserva Naturale della Foce del Fiume Belìce

Non accade spesso a Menfi che la primavera sia così in ritardo. Le piogge cadute tra gennaio e febbraio (oltre 200 mm) stanno creando molti disagi all'agricoltura.

Thanks to the beautiful weather of the past week, the vineyards are now covered with herbs and wild flowers and it’s finally time for bud break

Cantine Barbera's new vineyard of Inzolia has been planted by reproducing old clones that have adapted to Menfi's terroir for more than 90 years