Passobianco - Terre Siciliane I.G.P. - Passopisciaro - Franchetti

Andrea Franchetti arrived on Mt. Etna in 2000 and helped to initiate the renaissance of viticulture on the mountain and an international discovery of the region as a quality wine region. The Passopisciaro winery makes eight different wines from vines growing in different contrade-vineyards at Etna. The Etna volcano gives relatively frequent lava spills. While these spills devastate the landscape, each lava flow leaves a unique mineral profile, giving rise to the notion of various terroirs, called contrada – which form the basis for the very different wines produced.. At Passopisciaro, they use the strengths of the terroir on Etna to produce wines of remarkable complexity and individual personality.

When Franchetti arrived on Mt. Etna, he planted 4 hectares of Chardonnay on steep terraces between 850 and 1,000 meters in Contrada Guardiola, in very loose, deep, powder-like lava that is rich in minerals. The grapes for this white wine were manually harvested, carefully sorted and destemmed. The wine had a traditional fermentation for 20 days in steel vats and aged for 17 months cement vats and large oak barrels.