Ep. 706 Reflections On A Volcano | Wine, Food & Travel With Marc Millon

Welcome to wine food and travel with me, Mark Miller on Italian wine podcast. Listen in as we journey to some of Italy's most beautiful places in the company of those who know them best. The families who grow grapes and make fabulous wines. Through their stories, we will learn not just about their wines, but also about their ways of life, the local and regional foods and specialities that pair naturally with their wines. And the most beautiful places to visit. We have a wonderful journey of discovery ahead of us, and I hope you will join me. This episode is proudly sponsored by Vivino, the world's largest online wine marketplace. The Vivino app makes it easy to choose wine. Enjoy expert team support, door to door delivery, and honest wine reviews to help you choose the perfect wine for every occasion. Vivino, download the app on Apple or Android and discover an easier way to choose wine. Welcome to wine food and travel with me, Mark Millen. I've just returned from a couple of trips to Sicily, the first to the eastern part of the island where I was taking part in Avin Italy International Academy Jita Skolastica. Here are some reflections on wine and life on a volcano. At five ten AM, on October twenty fifth, I was awoken by a noise that felt like it emerged from deep within the very bowels of our planet Earth, first rumbling profoundly before erupting with the most almighty explosion. Not just a massive bang, but a noise that had the richest depth of sound that I have ever heard or felt. Within minutes, the Via Jetuskolastica, Sicily WhatsApp was alive with messages, most of which began along the lines of Holy crap. Did you hear that? Having just spent three full and richly rewarding days on the volcano itself, staying on its broad and high flanks at lingua glossa. This was a shocking and timely reminder of the immense power and explosive energy that is shaped and defined, a vine scape that is utterly unique. The Aetna vine scape is one of the world's most ancient. Fines have been grown on the mineral rich volcanic soil of Aetna for at least three thousand years. According to Homer, when the intrepid Odysseus blown off course on his fruitless attempts to return from Troy to his home island of ithaca came to what most scholars agree with Sicily, the home of the one eyed giant polyphemus. There were already vines here. Even cyclops know The wine grapes grown out of grassland and loam in heaven's reign said the behemoth. It is probable that throughout all of the various occupations of Sicily, Greek, phoenician, Roman, Bisantine Arab, Norman French, Spanish, Araganese, Spanish bourbon, Pied Montez, until the time of the creation of modern Italy, vines have been grown and wine made on Aetna. Indeed, at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century, the wines of Aetna were highly valued for the power, strength, and ability to travel by ship from Reposto, the port below Aetna. Around the Mediterranean to the north of Italy, as well as to France and elsewhere in order to boost pale and insipid northern vintages, or even as a substitute to replace wines from vineyards ravaged by Filocera. At the same time, the Aetna Vinescape is one of the world's newest and most exciting. Life is hard on a volcano. An ancient vineyards cultivated on laboriously constructed dry stone terraces that had been painstakingly built by hand over centuries were being wholesale abandoned. These ancient vineyards planted with vines more often often more than a century old trained in the unique Alberlo Ednao that needs to be worked entirely by hand could no longer compete with more productive vineyards from elsewhere. Palmentos, stone complexes in the vineyards, where the harvested grapes were trodden by foot to be made into wines were left to fall into ruin. A great and ancient virus patrimony was at risk of being lost forever. It is only in the last two decades, maybe a little earlier. That Viticulture has been revived on Aetna. There is excitement and dynamic energy here and the determination to bring new vigor and prosperity to this unique mountain environment. For this reason, Though Aetna is one of the world's most ancient wine regions, it feels young, energetic, full of hope, and determination for the future. The Aetna vineyard has a unique and complex terroir. Volcanic soils eroded over centuries and even millennia eventually break down into sand, loams, stones, and pebbles, while more recent lava flows remain solid rock, dividing the wind zones ruffling into areas that correspond to the various contrade. The soil is rich with pyroclastic matter, including volcanic grit that descends from the sky during eruptions like black rain. We actually experience this on our visit. As well as lapilli, walnut sized stones often as lightest pumice that forms around moisture droplets and fall to earth, a sort of pyroclastic hale. The exposure of the slopes is equally significant. The northern flanks of Aetna kept cool by the Maestrale wind are the most propitious for the cultivation of Narelo Maskaleza for the production of Aetna rosso wines of real elegance. And finesse. The Eastern and Southeastastern slopes where it is rainier and exposed exposed to the moist Grekale winds from the ionian is the kingdom of Karicante. A white grape with the ability to produce wines that can age and evolve for upwards of a decade or more. And the warmer southwest gets the least precipitation and is a source of wines that are somewhat fleshier and easier to enjoy at a young age. The common factors that make Viticulture here both so challenging, as well as rewarding, are, firstly, that the vineyards grow at high altitude, from five hundred to one thousand meters above sea level. Though some vines are planted up to a lofty one thousand two hundred meters, making them the highest vineyards in Europe. Secondly, the rich volcanic soil is fabulous for growing vines. Rich in minerals and nutrients, airy, coarse, and well draining. Thirdly, there's a preponderance of old vines, really old vines. In some cases, over a hundred years or more, Many such vines are pre philosopher since they were planted before the time when that North American pest destroyed the majority of vineyards of Europe. High altitude, volcanic soils, and old vines are what give the wines of Aetna such character and personality. The term heroic viticulture is used in Italy to indicate vineyards that are highly labor intensive, often located on the steepest slopes, or in mountains where vines are planted at high altitude on vineyards that require the maintenance of terraces and which cannot be mechanized, or which otherwise suffer adverse conditions that make growing grapes a more than considerable challenge. Aetna's Viticulture is truly heroic. For it has all of this and more. For here, for good measure, the vineyards are located on the most active volcano in Europe. This year alone, Eetna has erupted more than sixty times, sending Ash, Lapili, and lava flows across its flanks. On Aetna, her wrote Viticulture means working at times under a suffocating blanket of black grit that falls from the sky for days on end. It means being aware that lava flows at any time could progress down and across your vines, swallowing them up, destroying all your hard work and efforts. Perhaps even destroying your home and your winery. Growing grapes on Aetna requires unabiding faith, the nerve of a gambler, and a deep seated belief that the considerable effort and risk required to cultivate grapes on the slope of a volcano will be compensated in the magnificence and the glory of the wines it can be produced. The renaissance of a wine region The rebirth of Modernate the wine did not just happen. Those who believed and believe those high rollers and dreamers who have literally risked life and livelihood Those who have dedicated their lives to creating not just great wines, but to restoring an entire landscape to its magnificence are nothing less than an an inspiring group of Pioneering winemakers who can rightly take credit for the creation of Modern Aetna wine. We had the privilege to meet Salvo Foti, consider the father of Modern Aetna with his Evinari project and Vincenzo Lomaro, who, with owner Andrea Franketti, created Paso Picaro, one of the iconic wine properties here. And there are others. At Barrone de villagrande, we met young winemaker, Marco Nicolosi, the tenth generation of the Nikolozi family, who almost alone in the years when Aetna wines were in decline labored to keep quality wine production alive. Alberto who gave us an inspiring overview of the Aetna wine country restored his family vineyard and is counted amongst modern Aetna's early pioneers. And just the last two decades, other inspiring winemakers have been attracted, inspired by the efforts of those literal groundbreakers who paved the way attracted by the siren lure of making wines from ancient sometimes century old vines grown at altitude on the volcano. Some are well known wine producers have come to Aetna from other parts of Sicily. Others have arrived from different parts of Italy. Some are completely new to wine. They have brought new investment, new ideas, and new energy alongside a determination to respect age old tradition, making Aetna one of the most exciting wine regions in Italy and the world, and the wines At Naroso, produced primarily from Narelo Maskelese with or without the addition of some Narelo Caputo has emerged in these past two decades is one of the truly great red wines of Italy. Able to stand proudly on the same pedestal as Barolo and Barbarresco from Piedmont, Brunoo de Montalcino, and Chianti Classico, from Tuscany and Torase, from Campania. Enerosa, is relatively light in color with the acidity and in tannin to allow it to age and evolve. Crunchy red fruit and terpenes that with age bring out subtle tertiary aromas, red wine, of great elegance, and complexity that has the power and energy of the volcano, and which can express with precision its unique terroir. Indeed, contrade wines are Aetna's answers, answer to the MGA's of elsewhere. Crew wines that reveal subtle, and sometimes not so subtle differences in soil, exposure, and altitude. Aetna Bianco Seperiore and Aetna Bianco are similarly truly great wines. For Karicante is one of Italy's few white native grape varieties that has a remarkable potential to produce wines that can age and improve for upwards of a decade or more. Acidity is the key. That allows the wines to maintain their freshness even after years of aging. The best Aetna bianca wines come from grapes grown above nine hundred meters on the eastern and southeastern flank of Aetna where the moist sea breezes keep the air fresh and cool. We enjoyed a vertical tasting at Ecoustody that demonstrated how with upwards of a decade, aging, the aromas of the wines evolve with primary sense of lime and white flowers to a richer, deeper, and more complex bouquet with hints of petrol, beeswax, hazelnuts, a creamy textural mouthfeel, and a marked savory. Seline finish. Aetna wines, like most Italian wines, are outstanding with food. Young Aetna Bianco, with its piercing backbone of acidity, is wonderful paired with sicilian seafood antipasti. Such as marinated octopus, swordfish, in Valtini, sardines stuffed with bread crumbs, pine nuts, and currants, or the raw gambarorroso. The red prawn of mozzarella del valo. Its mineral fresh tingle in the mouth matched by the crisp minerality of the wine. Older vintages of Aetna Bianco have deeper and more profound flavors and can match more full and richer foods, even dishes such as the roast black pig from the Nebrody mountains, a protected snow fruit percidium. At Neurosso, when young, with its more forward fruit and tannins that are not usually aggressive, is very food friendly. Perfectly matched to simple foods such as grilled, Salcicha al Chapo, the hand chopped sausage flavored simply with salt, pepper, and wild fennel seeds. At Eco Storro, prepared a richly satisfying Stracato Das, you know, yes, donkey, slow cooked in at in the Aetna red, Paragmificantly with Mario Paluzzi's beautifully balanced at Nurosso. Older vintages can match even more strongly favorite foods, though with their elegance and finesse, I think they are probably best enjoyed simply with a nugget or two of aged pecorino cheese. To conclude Aetna's wine country is in many ways a microcosm of Italy. Like Aetna, almost all of Italy's wine country can boast an ancient pedigree that in many cases can be traced back to antiquity. Yet an illustrious, Venus Patramone that had carried on even through the dark ages and across the renaissance to Resorgimento was by the middle of the last century in danger of being lost. Native grape varieties were being replaced with international. Wines were being produced industrially as brands, and even Italy's greatest wines did not command the respect or fetch the prices that they deserved. Chianti Clasico is an example. In the nineteen seventies, a wine sold in the straw covered fiasco, today, rightly considered one of the great wines of Italy, and there are countless other examples. For indeed through the efforts of inspirational wine producers and winemakers all across the country, Italian wine now takes its place at the top table of world wines, not just for the excellence of its most exalted vintages, but also for the huge range of good and great wines at all levels produced from a wealth of native grape varieties simply found nowhere else on earth. Wines that express with precision, the character of the place and the people who make them. In that sense, Italy is a whole, like Aetna, is at once an ancient wine country as well as one of the world's newest and most exciting. That is what makes exploring Italian wine such a fascinating subject. The role of Italian wine ambassadors is not just to extol the good and the great, but also to discover rediscover and keep learning, staying abreast of changes that happen in Italy so very quickly. Witness the transformation of Aetna's wines from being sold in lava encrusted bottles to tourists just thirty years ago to now ranking amongst the greatest in the country. Indeed, the world, these are exciting times for Italian wines, and for Italian wine ambassadors. We hope you enjoyed today's episode of wine, food, and travel. With me, Mark Millen, on Italian wine podcast. Please remember to like share, and subscribe right here, or wherever you get your pods. 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