I MIEI VINI

MY WINES

Making wine is my life choice.
When I got back to Sicily after years I had spent somewhere else, I found the vineyards and my father’s dream.
I took his dream and made it mine.

To live here, to feel the energy of this beautiful though difficult land, trying to understand its essence and to capture its generous personality. To be witness and guardian, preserving its integrity, absorbing its strength and richness, trying to transfer to my wines its profound and fascinating spirit.

No tricks, no frills, just wine.

EASY MENFI

100% no frills wines, easy to drink and share with friends
a stress-free way to discover Menfi
and its distinct character

the SEA: fresh and saline
the LIGHT: fruity and pleasant
The WIND: exciting and dynamic

TERROIR

A pure expression of my homeland,
the deep bond between my vineyards
and the place where they belong

5 indigenous GRAPE VARIETIES
5 different SOIL types
5 small CRUS

HAND MADE

A very limited production of wines
where Humans are
as important as Nature

Only SPONTANEOUS FERMENTATION
100% MANUAL LABOR
Nothing is added, nothing is taken away

TRADITION

Timeless wines
that cross all borders and checkpoints
beyond fashions and prejudices

Long REFINING in big oak barrels
Extraordinary LONGEVITY
Complex and expressive PERSONALITY

WINEMAKING RULES

I make my wines praticticing biodynamic farming and natural winemaking, while paying utmost respect to Menfi's terroir.

No herbicides or synthetic fertilisers are ever allowed in the vineyard, nor any other systemic farm chemicals that may alter the environment's integrity and its rich biodiversity.

At the winery, I choose to work only with spontaneous fermentations and to adopt non invasive winemaking practices, in order to respect the unique personality of Sicilian native grape varieties and the beautiful land to which they belong.

Certified organic farming

Biodynamic farming

Traditional knowledge and sensitiveness to the grapevine’s needs are the most relevant assets

Most part of the vineyard operations - pruning, canopy management, green harvest and defoliation – is performed manually: nothing’s more effective and sensitive than human hands for a careful and respectful viticulture.
I believe that each vine should find its balance with the environment: thus, I avoid top trimming and all forcing practices, including mineral fertilization.

Sulphur and copper are used only when strictly necessary: cover crops, compost, biodynamic preparations, algae and vegetal teas grant vines’ nutrition and strenght.

My vineyard is certified organic, and biodynamic.

Natural winemaking

Natural winemaking

All fermentations start from a pied-de-cuve spontaneously fermented with indigenous yeast

A few days before the harvest I pick a small quantity of white grapes, which will undergo spontaneous fermentation with all their skins and stems. When the yeast is strong enough, the pied-de-cuve is manually pressed and the fermenting juice is used as a starter on the grapes that will be harvested during the season. As the harvest season proceeds and the winery's environment is contaminated by the energy of natural yeast that has developed from previous fermentations, it is generally not needed to use the pied-de-cuve anymore, and spontaneously the fermentation will occur on freshly crushed grapes, without any controls or human intervention.

Malolactic fermentation is also spontaneous, thanks to the lactic bacteria that are naturally present in the must.

Being Sicily a hot place, some vintages may require acidity protection or adjustment.
To do so, I use small quantities of unripe grapes, which will be manually pressed to extract fresh juice with a high level of acids that will be added to the wines during their alcoholic fermentation.

Wine additives

Wine additives

My goals in winemaking: to protect the grapes from oxidation and to preserve their aromas

My main choice for protecting my wines from oxidation is night harvest: picking during the freshest hours and immediately pressing the grapes is essential to preserve their amazing aromatic complexity and personality.

Nonetheless, during the hottest vintages a very limited use of Vitamin C on some white grapes may be needed: in this case, I may use it at the very moment of picking, to prevent the juice from becoming brown. I may also allow very low concentrations of sulfites only after the spontaneous fermentations - both alcoholic and malolactic - are finished. In most cases sulfites are added only before the bottling, or not added at all. Total amount of sulphur dioxide on my wines may sum up to a maximum of 30-60 mg/l depending on the vintage, and is by far below the legal limit - that is 350 mg/l in the US, and 210 mg/l in Europe.

After a few years of experiments, I found that fining is not a good idea for my wines: I prefer natural stabilization through prolonged lees contact, which is enhanced by manual batonnages both in the tanks and in the barrels.

Some of my white wines are gently filtered using cellulose layers, that are afterwards composted. Red and orange wines are not filtered.

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Italian (IT)

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