VignadiMilo Caselle Etna Bianco Superiore DOC 2023

This Carricante is textbook: dry, 12.0% vol., carried by acidity and herbal spice rather than fruit abundance. The colour is a deep, bright and clear straw yellow, the tone austere and restrained.

The grapes come from the Milo vineyard on the eastern flank of Etna, around 950 metres above sea level, covering 0.15 hectares replanted in 2008. The estate's vineyards sit on black, mineral-rich soils of cooled lava, volcanic ash and sand. There are no iron posts, concrete pillars or wires here, only chestnut stakes from Etna.

Carricante is Etna's native white grape variety and thrives at high altitude, where it brings freshness and saline minerality. In Milo the vines are trained in alberello etneo with 10,000 vines per hectare, worked entirely by hand. Fermentation is spontaneous with wild yeasts, without sulphites, without temperature control and without cultured yeasts; the wine is not filtered. Ageing takes place in neutral vessels, in used wooden barrels or concrete tanks.

The acidity is ripe and linear, setting the direction. The citrus components sit softly within a fine, powdery, austere phenolic grip reminiscent of sage; alongside this, herbal infusions, chamomile and green tea. On the nose, citrus peel and citrus blossom, medlar and white mulberry over a waxy spiciness.

The alberello training method, in which each vine is tended individually by hand as a bush, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage practice. Racking and bottling follow the lunar phases. Salvo Foti vinifies the grapes in the historic palmento and rejects any chemical intervention.