DAVIDE BENTIVEGNA FOUNDER OF ETNELLA

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 winemaking.

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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 below).

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

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The firm belief is a conception that is above all humanistic: promoting 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 every day in the etna vineyards, in our eno-agriturismo Notti Stellate and  in our villa BeFelice in Acicastello

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WE WORK IN TUNE WITH NATURE

We respect the long dating tradition of farming on Etna

We 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 yeasts and stick to the Vinnatur disciplinary rules of having a maximum of 40mg/tot sulfites on white wine and 30 Mg/Tot on reds and only if necessary, the same goes for filtering this is the only 2 winemaking practices that might be used in our wines.

Come and join us as every season brings pleasant activities and help is always needed

15 VINEYARDS AND 8 WINES

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

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

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

The resulting wines are a panoply of

various expressions of Etna’s terroir.

The vineyards are trained in alberello style, or bush trained, an ancient method traditionally used on Etna and initially brought by the greeks and perfectioned by the Romans.

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.

The 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 profile, complexity, and longevity.

In the vineyards we use only a Bordeaux mixture (copper sulphate) in omeopathic doses , and all fermentations are spontaneous, using onlyindigenous yeast colonies. 

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The 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 extra virgin olive oil, cider 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