Cottanera

"The ladies from the mountain." could be called this winegrower portrait, because it is actually a well-rehearsed team of 25 women, who do the manual work here at Cottanera. Because up here in the vineyards you have to do almost everything by hand. Up here? Imagine that you are now a steep narrow road with many curves, even serpentines, high in second gear and park about 700 meters high above the sea, which only 30 kilometers as the crow flies reflects the sun in the east. Black earth, a permanent breeze, which carries a fine herb spice with itself, in between the freshly combed green of the vine rows. Now Etna rises before you. 3,350 metres high, snow-covered for most of the year - you can also ski here until April. But that's not why we're here.

The visionaries: At the beginning of the 1990s, viticulture was almost extinct here. It's too much work. While in the south of Sicily, in flatter plains, vineyards to be cultivated by machine are the boom of the Nero d'Avola, most of the wine-growing stopped here in the north. Too much manual work caused too high costs. The area was small structured, most winegrowers owned perhaps one or two hectares. And these were Albarello cultures, an ancient form of wine education that looks like small trees with thick gnarled trunks, because these cultures were often up to one hundred years old. Uneconomical and also grape varieties that nobody knew and wanted to know. Because it was the time of international varieties. Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah were the fashion in Sicily.

It was at this time that Giulielmo Cambria convinced his then 60-year-old father Francesco and his brother Enzo to set up a winery here together. The rest is a local, then an international success story. From wilderness and some hazelnut plantations they formed vineyards. Today it's almost 70 hectares. In the beginning the international varieties like Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Viognier dominated. Soon the Cambria brothers, however, began to think about the old local varieties and planted the white Inzolia and Carricante, as well as the red Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio. That was more than courageous at the time - and in the village Osteria the brothers were soon declared crazy behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, the elegant and volcanic-mineral wines of Etna are sought-after specialties among wine lovers that are hard to find because there are so few of them. All wines from Cottanera are characterised by a fine, typical spice, which can only be created here, in addition to wonderful fruit, delicate structure and elegance. Great wines from the volcano. SUPERIORE.DE