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September 29, 2022
Meet Sonia Gambino, an authentic young oenologist-winemaker who, thanks to her enthusiasm and tenacity, produces natural wines capable of filling the heart with happiness and beauty. Her tiny reality, called “Gustinella,” consists of less than 1.5 hectares and is located in Maletto, on the northwest slope of Mount Etna, outside the DOC ETNA production area.
Maletto is the highest town on the volcano, about 1,000 meters above sea level, has 3.5 thousand inhabitants, and is located between Etna Park and Nebrodi Park. It is also a very quiet and peaceful town, known for its strawberry production, and suggests the tradition and agricultural culture that still permeates the lives of its inhabitants.
Too much coincidence, is fate in charge?
Sonia’s story begins almost as a routine but continues in a mind-blowing way.
After several experiences in New World wineries and a grueling office job in Milan, she determines to turn her life around and arrives in Sicily, specifically Marsala, to work with Nino Barraco. In mid-2020 Covid strikes, and she is forced to think of something different, so she decides to settle in Etna, in her father’s hometown Maletto. She moves into the house that once belonged to her grandfather, who happened to own the millstone in Maletto.
The more the days pass, the more Sonia falls in love with this little-known village and the underrated surrounding area, with vineyards located at an altitude between 1,000 and 1,200 meters above sea level.
Sonia establishes excellent relationships with the local youth, farmers, and elders, especially Mr. Vincenzo. One day she discovers his extraordinary vineyard and the fact that the grapes grown there, such as Grenache, Grecanico, and more than fifteen other lesser-known varieties, some still unidentified, are completely different from the rest of Mount Etna,
Subsequently, experimentation with micro winemaking takes place from several small plots she is in charge of. Because of the small volumes, she makes all vinifications in salvaged containers-mini concrete tanks and demijohns, which mysteriously keep arriving at the winery one day after another.
Because in Maletto everyone talks and, as in every small town in Sicily, know each other. So meanwhile, unbeknownst to Sonia, the revealing rumor spreads that thereβs this young girl, Gustinello’s granddaughter, willing to make wine of Maletto. And within weeks, some locals precipitate by offering her disused wine-making containers or vineyards to take care of.
With support on the one hand and a lot of puzzlement on the other, she decides to renovate the garage of the house her parents left behind, turning it into a perfectly renovated winery enriched with steel vats.
When it comes to the vineyards, needless to say, work is done in a more than sustainable way, paying extreme attention to the ancient indigenous alberello β trained vines, performing all work manually, without any use of chemicals. In the winery, cleanliness and almost maniacal attention to detail allow the production of live natural wines, which follow spontaneous fermentations with indigenous yeasts.
The result is absolutely sensational and truly unique Etna wines, which deliver a volcanic freshness along with some indescribable and mysterious scents, a kind of unseen side of Etna wines that everyone should discover.
In the end, Sonia, with her small but ambitious project, with the harvest and vinification of ancient vineyards and varieties almost in disuse, has managed to give light and new hope to Maletto viticulture. On one side celebrating tradition and values, on another, creating a revolution with a new key to terroir.
Tags :
etna,etna wine tour,etna winery,maletto,natural wine,sicilian winery
