DAVIDE BENTIVEGNA

Davide Bentivegna, Etnella's founder ,after maturing an experience working for the German company Siemens , was struck by vocation. He left his manager position to follow his dream to make wines that touch the soul.

No previous experience or family land, all had to be created from scratch . From day one the approach was to an organic farming and natural wine making.

The adventure started in 2008 and the first wine, "Notti Stellate" etna rosso, was bottled in 2010 from the first company vineyard located in Contrada Galfina in Linguaglossa (see also vineyards) .

From then on the company grew acquiring more land and developing into a complex reality always keeping an artisan and sustainable approach guided by strong ethics.

The firm belief is a conception that is above all humanistic: promoting a responsibility towards the environment, the community, the customers, and the future.

Today Davide has created a solid team with a common objective: respect the land, respect each other and produce happiness :-)

To allow friends and customers to experience this magical world of so called natural wine in the highest active Volcano of Europe, touristic activities were developed in order to benefit from the many influences and energy of the people that we welcome everyday in the etna vineyards, in our enoagriturismo and  in our villa in Acicastello..

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WORK ACCORDING TO NATURE

We respect the long dating tradition of farming on Etna and follow moon phases to guide our work.

We farm attentively and with very low use of only copper and sulphur, the majority of our work is performed manually.

We ferment the grapes with their own indigenous yeats  and stick to the Vinnatur disciplinary rules of having a maximum of 40mg/tot sulphites on white wine and 30 Mg/Tot on reds and only if necessary, the same goes for filtering this are the only 2 wine making practices that might be used in our wines.

VINEYARDS AND WINES

With 15 different vineyards in 7 different "Contrade" we actually make 7 cru wines  at altitudes ranging from 500mt to 1000mt above sea level ....see also the infographics  showing the geographical location of our vineyards and the relative cru wines associated . 7Ha of vineyards in the northern slopes of Mount Etna 

We farm our contrade, or sub zones, in Presa(also home to the Agriturismo), Linguaglossa, Solicchiata, Passopisciaro and Randazzo, all based on the northeastern side of the volcano.

Each contrada is treated separately, as each parcel has a distinct lava stratifiation,mesoclimate, and exposition.

The resulting wines are a panoply of various expressions of Etna’s terroir.
Th vineyards are trained in alberello style, or bush trained, an ancient method traditionally used on Etna.

The vines are planted on land that is terraced with dry-stone walls constructed with the local volcanic stones so omnipresent on Etna’s slopes. The close proximity of the vines (6,000 - 9,000 plants per hectare) creates firce competition and forces the roots to point downward in the volcanic soil in search of water and nutrients.

Th altitude of the vineyards varies from 600 to 1000 meters above sea level.

The extreme weather conditions and drastic diurnal shifts (an average of 16°C between day and night) result in wines of great phenolic profie, complexity and longevity.
In the vineyards we use only a Bordeaux mixture (copper sulphate), and all fermentations are spontaneous, using only
indigenous yeast colonies. Th wines are neither fied nor fitered. When possible, we avoid the addition of sulphites,
but in rare cases we allow ourselves to add a maximum of 30mg/lt.
In addition to wine growing, we farm numerous varieties of olives and fruit that are indigenous to Etna.

We produce three crus of extra virgin olive oil and many diffrent types of high quality jams.

We have a total of 19 hectares of land: the vineyards, the winery, the cellar, and a traditional styled agriturismo made from volcanic stone. Shop wines

ETNELLA TEAM

Built after years of working together, making mistakes and growing in our passion , working natural to deliver happiness