Santa Maria La Nave - Catania, Italy Pt. 4

The Best Five Minute Wine Podcast. Now I read that your mission at Santa Maria le Navi is to protect viticulture on Mount Edna and pass it on to future generations. Because past generations haven't necessarily kept the integrity of the vines, they've been abandoned, and then clearing of the vineyards have done the rest. I see where you've worked with some local farmers and university to make sure that you protect the native vines and now you've preserved a couple of specific vines. Can you tell me a little bit about that whole process, on indigenous grape varieties nobody produces, if you remember my passion for the archaeological pink, my work, even in the wine it's more or less the same.  Because my focus is to produce crude and super crude wine from these indigenous Mt. Etna grape varieties. The most part of this are pretty. Extinct, in donal few vineyard. I discovered, as he mentioned to me. In the past, through the centuries, the old farmers selected several varieties from Mount Etna, which arrived to the maturation. Point at the same time. So you can collect to the same period. And this is special because I found a lot of almost extinct. Varieties because it was very resistant to.

Philocera, Sumateo and many others which I Selected and protected, thanks to the university.

To reproduce volatile fields in 100% wine, very limited bottle, 900, bottles, 800 bottles. But the most important thing is keep in tact the tradition, bring back to life a wine, that doesn't exist now, but in the past, yes. So for me it's like to discover Tutankhamontam in the wine world.

The vineyard looks much different than what we see here in America. And I think part of that is because the vineyards are irrigated. None of them are irrigated, are they?

You get what comes down from the sky.

Yeah, because Mount Etna is

Illegal to irrigate the vineyard for this reason. The roots of the vine go down, several meters to take the water, the nutrients and the minerals to grow up.

Of course, if you taste our wines, they are full body.

They are completely different for this reason. I mean, of course the soil, the explosion, the altitude.

And one of the most important thing is the organic approach because.

I'm very strict in this direction. I want to produce the wine as.

In the past, the ancient farmers did, as Don Alfio taught to me, without pesticides, without chemicals, without makeup, nothing, just pure, fruit juice of grape.

And very soft vinification process and.

That'S it because the most important word is in the vineyard.

And so if you make a nice and a great work in the vineyard with organic approach, respecting the nature biodynamic approach the most

Important part of the work is done.

When did you start cultivating your vineyard and releasing your first bottle

So when you started cultivating, took possession of the winery, how soon before you released your first bottle to everyone?

when I found the right moment.

I started in 2004 to plant Grecanico Dorato grape. but it has been necessary.

Almost three years before the vineyard grows.

A little bit to collect some grapes. But I tried to take care of the vineyard more or less, in 2000, 410 years later because the husband family, my husband family started to plant 2004 with Grecanico Dorado grapes and when I arrived there and I started to take care of.

The vineyard after ten years