Vino di Anna 'Pirao' 2021

Etna, Sicily 

Nerello Mascalese 

Pale crimson in colour, this wine has delicate red-fruit aromas and floral notes. On the palate
the fruit is both pure and ethereal. The wine has a distinct crunchy minerality, being both sapid
and salty; almost crystalline in character. The tannins are fine and austere.

"In 2015, we purchased a beautiful, two hectare abandoned property, high above the town of Randazzo, in the Contrada Pirao. Amongst the chestnut trees, broom, wild apple, cherry and walnut trees, there were still some 1,000 century old plus, un-grafted bush vines dotted along the terraces. The purity of the grapes, the freshness of the acidity and the ethereal, fine tannins of the two glass demi-johns made from this vineyard in 2016, gave us an insight that we had stumbled across something quite special. Eric’s “Garden of Eden” had been found.
The following years saw much time and effort spent on clearing and repairing the old terraces for planting, seeking and making massale selection cuttings from our best, high altitude vineyards, planting all of these cuttings on their own roots; in the traditional high density quincunx pattern. All the time, watching over the old vines, that had never been treated and continued to produce small bunches of healthy grapes.
The remote location of the vineyard, in these first few years, proved both a challenge and an asset. Wandering cows, wild boar and birds feasted on the prized grapes all too often in these early years, meaning no wine was produced at all in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, solid fencing and careful pruning coaxed a little more from the old vines; the cool growing year resulting in a very austere/ethereal wine that still needs time. The warmer 2020 harvest produced a floral, pretty wine, with pomegranate flavours and an incredible underlying minerality.

In 2021, the old vines still remain un-treated throughout out the growing season. Harvest was early October and the few hundred kilos of grapes were fermented in a small mastellone by indigenous yeasts for about 10 days. Basket pressed, the new wine, underwent malolactic fermentation in glass demi-john (54 litres) and remained on fine lees until bottling without any additions, clarification or filtration in June 2022."

Vino di Anna

Vino di Anna is a small, family wine estate situated on the north face of Mt Etna, Sicily. Anna Martens and Eric Narioo have been making natural wines together on Mt Etna for nearly 15 years. Today, with a team of locals, they cultivate organically, eight hectares of terraced land by hand. They make a range of minimal intervention wines, that focus on energy, respect for nature and
reflection of terroir.