We are honoured for having received our “virtual statue”, thanks to the article published on Luciano Pignataro’s very influential website.
Referring to our Millesulmare, made with Grecanico Dorato year 2012, the author Fabio Panci states the following:
“I discovered it almost by chance during the last Vinitaly and it changed my personal tasting standards for white wines. It caught me totally wrong-foot. Surprising.”
Making wine is passion and amusement, but it also means a serious commitment on the vineyards and in the wine-cellars, where our challenge is transforming a simple fruit juice into something more precious, with a well-defined character and identity.
The malolactic fermentation plays a very important role in this.
Being I a true Sicilian woman and having lived almost my whole life close to the sea, I have always loved eating fresh fish at the restaurants along the sea of my Island.
I still recall the wonderful smell of Sicilian fish, prepared in a simple and refined way as our food tradition requires, its intense taste, its perfect elegance exalted by a paring with a Grillo, a Carricante, or a mineral Grecanico Dorato, with its polished sapidity that perfectly balances its taste and structure.
The famous Wine Blogger Francesco Saverio Russo of WineBlogRoll has spoken again about our wines, Millesulmare (100% Grecanico Dorato) and Calmarossa (85% of Nerello Mascalese and 15% of Nerello Cappuccio).
Praha matka měst, the mother of all cities: that is how Prague’s two million citizens nickname it. Prague is a unique city, suspended between history and innovation, rich in charm and refined elegance.
Going back to Prague after so many years was a great emotion since my blurred memories couldn’t do justice to the artistic and cultural heritage of the old city (one of the most beautiful places amongst the World Heritage sites). Its timeless charm is disarming to say the least, but Prague is also much more than this.
In Florence there is one of the best restaurants in the entire Italy, Leggenda dei Frati, set in the charming scenery of Villa Bardini, its park and its museum, where a lucky onlooker can experience the Renaissance charm that characterizes the whole complex.
The sight is unbelievable, to say the least. From there one can see the entire city, elegant and full of wonderful energy.
On Saturday, January 16, we were guest of Tuscanative in Arezzo and spent a wonderful evening at a tasting of our wines, Millesulmare 2013 and 2014 and the Calmarossa 2014. We were completely charmed by the dishes that Chef Luigi Casotti came up with and prepared with love to specially match our wines, after he had tasted them with great care. An extraordinary food and wine matching to say the least! Read More
Last evening, while I was drinking an excellent Nerello Mascalese, some friends asked me: “What are crespelle”? This is the reason because I want to share here the authentic recipe of the crispelle, and the video of their preparation.
The famous Italian wineblogger, Francesco Saverio Russo, after tasting our Millesulmare e Calmarossa dedicated a wonderful review to our wines. I definitely want to share it on our blog.
If you are in Düsseldorf please do taste our Millesulmare 2014 at Prowein, as SantaMariaLaNave will partecipate to the following events:
The very famous Master of wine in Australia, Peter Scudamore, during his wine and food tour in Sicily, he has could visit the great Volcano Etna, famous wineries, and the place where we have our vineyard, contrada LA NAVE at 1.100 meters above sea level. I want to say thank you to Peter for his article about Etna wines, and about LA NAVE and our Millesulmare of grecanico dorato that he has described with great competence and passion.
This is an extract of Peter Scudamore’s article:
“The latest addition to my Mount Etna wineosphere is the brilliant white wine from the winery Santa Maria La Nave: grown on the northern slopes of the mountain.
This exciting part of Sicily continues to capture and allure international writers and sommeliers. It has to be the elevation that these local indigeneous varieties enjoy. There is freshness and a joy in the mouth. Don’t miss it!
This Santa Maria La Nave Millesulmare 2014 Sicilia DOC is special in colour: it has luminosity in the glass, masses of quartz-green glints, excellent lustre of a wine with pearl shell gloss; it “winks” at you.
The taste works a treat; and the aromas are not overt, just muted citrus and lemon rind; subtle, no more.
The citrus meet on the palate, and the sensation you find is one of linearity of acidity that goes on for ever. Note the acid succulence, respond to the salivary senses and detect the peak when the lemon essence and lemon grass acid flavours start fading. Should take ten seconds.
These vines have been around for some time but Riccardo is yet to tell me how long.
Now they are being curated and carefully propagated by massal extension, using the old process of burying one unpruned cane of an old vine into the next vine space to start re-growth. Some call the process layering.
So the vineyard must have gaps from vines which have died; now they are being replaced using a very meticulous plan.
These Etna whites have shrill acidity, and slim body, generally irrespective of the variety. They are naturally minerally, merely responding to their terroir.
Peter Scudamore-Smith MW visited Sonia Spadaro Mulone and Riccardo Mulone in Milan to interview for this project; and served this Grecanico Dorato 2014 at the opening evening dinner of Uncorked and Cultivated Sicily Wine and Food Tour 2015 in Taormina..”
For the whole article go to: http://uncorkedandcultivated.com.au/la-nave-on-mt-etna/#!prettyPhoto
In August, while we were on Mount Etna, we have received a message from SalvyBigNose, a sommelier/blogger, who lives in Scotland. SalvyBigNose had heard about our Millesulmare and, being in Sicily for his holidays, he wanted to buy few bottles for have a proper wine tasting. SalvyBigNose showed an incredible dedication, because he spent several hours in his car to come to Mount Etna and find our bottles. We appreciated his competence and his deep knowledge on Etna Wines, and we admired his deep passion for wine.
From our heroic vineyard of Grecanico Dorato, located at 1100 mt. a.s.l. on Mount Etna, our Millesulmare has been chosen to accompany Pope Francis’s menù during his Apostolic travel in Ecuador in July.
Marco Picano is the chef that organized the event, he has tasted our Millesulmare during a very important Italian wine festival (the chef really loves Etna wines) and he decided to include them on the menù for the Pope’s flight on July 5th.
Our friend Dario di Bella, photographer and writer, proving once more his boundless love for Mount Etna, wanted to add our vineyard to a number of nights spent sleeping in the open, without a tent. He calls these experiences Microadventures and they have many followers among lovers of nature and of eco-friendly tourism. Dario is one of those people who chose to dedicate their life to their dreams, which are nature, photography and writing. With his sweet wife, he left Milan in order to spend most of their time on the Nebrodi Mountains. They had planned this return to nature for years, studying every move.
We are honored that the 5th May 2015 the Board of Directors of CERVIM, after a full review of our Company, has decided to include SantaMariaLaNave, and our white wine Millesulmare of Grecanico dorato vines, amongst its members. CERVIM is an international organism, created in 1987 under the auspices of O.I.V., Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin. Many regions and regional organisms joined this Center, all brought together by their common interest in promoting and safeguarding mountain viticulture.
Last night we were contacted by some friends who wanted to congratulate us for the good article posted on the influential wine and food blog of Luciano Pignataro. We were pleasantly surprised and honored by the praises to our wines, Millesulmare and Calmarossa, written by the journalist and sommelier Fabio Panci, who tried a Calmarossa of 2011 and a vertical tasting of Millesulmare at Vinitaly.
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Today a special report on Vinitaly was broadcast on Sky Classlife, edited by the journalist and reporter Tarsia Trevisan. Few minutes of the report are about SantaMariaLaNave, including an interview to Sonia. Below we are posting the link where you can see this special report. The part on SantaMariaLaNave starts from minute 6.
http://video.milanofinanza.it/classlife/viaggi-sapori/un-vinitaly-2-0-37860/
We are posting a short video with some pictures from our last harvest in Contrada Nave, at an altitude of 1100 meters above sea level. This year, the harvest was on October 25. A day full of joy that crowns a year of work on our wonderful vines.
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N.O.P.A.Q.U.I.E. from d2studio on Vimeo.
Why should we talk of religious festivities on the website of a company that produces Etna wines? It’s an understandable question, but everyone who has been in the province of Catania during the celebration in honor of Saint Agatha (from the evening of February 3 to the morning of February 6) knows that all the province stops to honor the “Santuzza” (little Saint in Sicilian dialect). This celebration is huge, rich in tradition and folklore, intense and passionate.
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The chef Angelo Scuderi has chosen our wines as top products for its restaurant, pairing them with typical dishes of Etnean tradition, revisited with its innovative style, and also as ingredients for some of his recipes, which we will be publishing on our blog during the next months. We thank chef Scuderi and we report the introduction page to his menu, which is a great honor for us.
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