Sicily, Italy
Patria winery is owned by the Franco Di Miceli, the pioneer of the Etna wines!
Wine has been made on the arid slopes of Etna Volcano in Sicily for over 3,000 years, however in the early 50s most of the farmers abandoned this area looking for better and easier life in the city of Catania and in the villages at the footsteps of the volcano, closer to the coast and blessed by a very new for of income: the tourism!!! Thus also the old co-op winery “Cantina di Torre Palino” was abandoned and remained closed until the young and reckless Franco Di Miceli, saw an opportunity where everybody else could only see fatigue and poverty! Franco acquired the winery in 1992, changed the name into Patria, reclaimed the abandoned vineyards from the volcano and made a bet with Etna volcano itself: “I’ll make this desolate land one of the most desirable and prestigious wine making place on the Planet”! Nowadays some of the most prominent wine makers around the world are investing on Mount Etna and make some of the best wines in the world. Etna is the “name of the game” the the two protagonists are Carricante (an indigenous white grape that grows only on this volcano), and Nerello Mascalese (a very high maintenance red grape originally from Calabria Region, that particularly loves the extreme elevation and the very tough conditions offered by Etna Volcano).