TERRITORY
The production area lies at the meeting point of three natural parks: that of Etna, Nebrodi and Alcantara, within the area covered by the DOC ETNA controlled designation of origin discipline, the oldest one in Sicily which was approved by Decree of the President of the Republic dated 11/08/1968.
Etna’s constant volcanic activity and its particular climatic conditions, Sicily’s hot and dry sun and extreme temperature changes, have made the lands at the foot of the volcano fertile and particularly well suited to viticulture.
The whole area of northern Etna, even from over a thousand meters of altitude, has recently been the object of considerable investments by entrepreneurs, coming mainly from other provinces and from other regions of Italy, often from abroad, who have purchased large tracts of land, replanting or restructuring ancient vineyards. An unmistakable sign of interest, in an increasingly greater appreciation of Etna’s wines.
Probably this interest from "outsiders" has rekindled the never completely dormant passions of local entrepreneurs, who have decided as well to get back in the game by in turn committing themselves to once again growing grape varieties, which had been abandoned or neglected, and to aim at producing high quality wines. This was also in order to forget those times in which the wines of Etna were somewhat coarse, with a strong alcohol content (15 to 16 degrees), and hauled by cart from Randazzo (hence the logo of the Terre dell'Etna winery) and then loaded on ships in the port of Riposto, which sailed either to the ports of northern Italy (Genoa) or Europe (Marseille), where they were only used as blending wines.
