Sandra, Rori and Cinzia are the family behind this recent Sicilian domaine on the northern slopes of Mount Etna and their initials form a sort of quasi TLA as Esserci means ‘We’re here!’ They’ve only been there since 2013 when Rori bought his wife Cinzia half a hectare of the Crasà contrada* as a present. She was so delighted he bought the remaining half the following year and they made the wines in their garage for the first three years. During that time they bought more land, becoming ever more excited at the potential of this unstable landscape. After all, as some of their terroir is a <40 year old lava flow that must be some of the youngest vineyard land in the world.

Their soils, now across five contradas and amounting to 8 hectares have never seen agricultural chemicals and are purely organic and at between 600-1000 meters. There’s no pollution apart from the occasional belch from Etna itself and plenty of light, even on this northwestern slope. The mineral-rich soils and amazing levels of biodiversity help to create a balanced and naturally disease-resistant character in the terraces of vines. These are mostly Nerello Mascalese and Granaccia for the reds. Since the 2017 vintage the Rosso that we have has been fermented in concrete. Minimal sulphur is used. less than 10mg free.

*contrada. if you spend the summer in Tuscany you may be used to the Sienese use of Contrada as a part of the City characterised by a fierce clan loyalty. In Sicily it means site.