I Vigneri di Salvo Foti I Vigneri Rosso 2025
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The Land
Modern Etna wineries ferment in steel tanks with temperature control. This red is made in a palmento, the multilevel lava-stone press house that Etna used for centuries before refrigeration arrived. I Vigneri's palmento, Palmento Caselle, stands in Milo on the volcano's eastern slope, and the consortium's members farm vineyards spread across several of Etna's slopes, including Milo, Castiglione di Sicilia on the north side, and Bronte to the northwest. Everything is planted in alberello, the head-trained bush vine of Etna, at high density on sandy volcanic soils. Alberello takes roughly twice the labor of wire-trained vines, nearly all of it by hand, and that work is the point of this project. The cool nights at altitude preserve acidity, and the black sand gives Nerello Mascalese its smoky, stony frame.
The Wine
The I Vigneri Rosso 2025 from Salvo Foti is built on Nerello Mascalese with a smaller share of Nerello Cappuccio; most importer and retailer sources give 90 percent Mascalese and 10 percent Cappuccio. Grapes are trodden by foot in the palmento, left whole with their stems, and macerate for about eight days before running by gravity into terracotta amphorae buried below. The wine rests about six months in amphora without racking, and transfers and bottling follow the phases of the moon. Foot treading and stems give a lifted, slightly herbal crunch, and clay keeps the fruit transparent. In past vintages it has poured light ruby with crushed ash, dried rose, lavender and smoky black cherry, then brisk acidity, edgy tannins and a raspberry and spice finish. Sicilian producers reported a mild, even 2025 season, with a harvest stretching to early November on Etna.
The People
The name reaches back to 1435, when Catania's vineyard workers organized as the Maestranza dei Vigneri, a guild of skilled vine tenders. Salvo Foti, born in Catania, revived the name for a group of growers and workers who farm and make wine the old way. Foti is often called the godfather of modern Etna: Giuseppe Benanti hired him as winemaker in 1988, and he spent more than two decades there and at estates such as Gulfi, helping define how the volcano's contrade were understood. I Vigneri is his personal answer. He calls the results "human wines" rather than natural wines, rejects biotechnology in the cellar, and farms by hand with copper and sulfur, using mules on terraces where machines cannot go.
Food Pairing
Give it a slight chill. Pizza margherita from a hot oven is the classic match: the acidity meets the tomato and the light tannin handles the mozzarella. Arancini stuffed with beef ragù and peas suit the wine's herbal crunch. Grilled Sicilian sausage with fennel seed picks up the smoke. And caponata, the sweet and sour eggplant stew with olives and capers, shows how well this red handles vinegar. Pour it for friends who want to taste what Etna wine was before the modern boom.
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Sicily, Italy’s largest island, blends ancient wine traditions with a fresh wave of modern creativity. Its star red grape, Nero d’Avola, thrives in the island’s warm, sun-soaked climate, producing intensely flavored wines with dark fruit and a hint of savory spice. Along the western coast lies the historic heartland of Marsala, a fortified wine prized for both sweet and dry styles. Rising above the island’s varied landscapes is Mount Etna, an active volcano whose mineral-rich soils and cooler elevations result in elegantly structured reds and nuanced whites. From coast to crater, Sicily’s wine culture is as diverse and vibrant as the region itself.
Italy - Sicily
Named for its pale color and hometown of Mascali, Nerello Mascalese is a rising star in the wine world. Indigenous to Mount Etna, it was overlooked for decades until recently the world has taken notice of the elegant yet powerfully minerally wines produced on the volcanic slopes. Think halfway between Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo.
