Ciro Biondi

Ciro Biondi

Ciro Biondi

The alberello is a way to train the vines here on Etna, probably since the Greeks or the Romans. We use a chestnut pole like this one, and the vines then grow on it and it will support all the branches and it is well-ventilated. So, there is no barrier and you can access all the vines and not just the row with the wires in the middle. Of course, it’s more expensive, but I want to believe that is the best way to make a quality wine.

Alberello on Etna, on a chestnut pole, is something that is part of the culture or the landscape of Etna so it should be saved. The other day I had a funny experience where there was an agronomist talking about ways of training vines and he said, “Oh, Guyot (spalliera), whatever, but I will never suggest to plant alberello because it’s too expensive. You don’t find the people to work with.” And I was shocked. So, when it was my turn to reply I said, “Look, I don’t care to spend more cents to make the alberello in my vineyard, but because these things are alberello I will be marketing, so, at the end, I will get more by putting this in front of the people.

Look, you buy a bottle of my wine. This is the way we’re doing it. We keep this land, we are gardeners. First of all, we are to keep this natural and this beautiful place here with terraces, you cannot just destroy it to save a few cents per bottle, I mean, wine is a luxury thing. You can live without wine, but if you had to drink a wine, you must drink a good wine with history and quality.

BUY THE WINE

Graci Etna Rosso 2023

Sour cherry over a massive volcanic stone core. Salt, wisps of smoke, black dirt.

2020

$49.99

Out of stock

About

Alberto Graci grew up experiencing winemaking through his grandfather who had made wine from family vineyards in central Sicily.  He was working as an investment banker in Milan when the death of his grandfather brought him back to Sicily and to wine.
 
In 2004 Graci sold his grandfather’s land and used the proceeds to buy land on Mount Etna, and is amongst the group of Etna pioneers including Foti, Franchetti, Cornelissen, de Grazia and Benanti who over the last twenty years have helped elevate Etna’s reputation to the point where it is now considered one of Italy’s most important wine regions.
 
Graci’s first purchased vineyards included a plot in Contrada Barbabecchi at 3,200 feet of altitude with pre-phylloxera, ungrafted vines that reach upwards of 100 years old. Today he grows traditional Etna varietals in a number of Etna’s premier contrada with altitudes ranging from 2,000 to 3,200 feet. A recent Graci project is Idda, a partnership he entered into in 2016 with Italian wine legend Angelo Gaja, on the less fashionable southwestern slope of the volcano.
Read more on GrapeCollective.com
Alberto Graci: Champion of Mount Etna Wine Traditions