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

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

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

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.

 

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

Massal selection is a traditional technique for vines' reproduction that aims at preserving their intra-varietal genetic variability, in order to maintain the vineyard's distinctive traits and its relation with terroir intact.
Why is it so important for wine's quality?

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 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.