Ayunta Terre Siciliane Nerello Mascalese Bianco Organic 2023 750ml

Winemaker Notes

Beautiful minerality shining through it, alongside touches of honeymelon and stone fruit. 

Very experienced natural wine drinkers may experience a small note of sulphur on the finish, but it does not distract from the uniqueness of this special wine.

Growing up in Agrigento on Sicily’s southern coast, Filippo Mangione had winemaking in his blood. For generations his family tended vines and made wine in their palmento until his grandfather passed away in the sixties. The vineyards and building were sold off; leaving his family without an estate.

After university, he dove headfirst into the world of wine: working as a waiter, sommelier, journalist, and sales/export in both the US and the UK. The more he worked selling other peoples’ wines, the more he felt the pull to revive his family’s legacy and re-establish an estate of his own. In 2011, after months of visiting and walking the slopes of Etna, Filippo happened to meet the old owner of a nearly abandoned vineyard in Calderara Sottana planted in the early 1900s behind a grove of chesnut trees. Too old to work the vineyards any longer, he was thrilled that Filippo wanted to continue his work, telling him “Take it. Don’t let this vineyard die.” Filippo spent his life savings to buy that vineyard and Ayunta was born.

The vineyards of Ayunta, now several parcels spread throughout the top terroirs (namely the contrada of Calderara Sottana) around Randazzo on northern Etna, total 2.8 ha. The vineyards are populated mainly by very old vines. Every vine is different which is why Filippo does all his farming either by hand or small machine. He doesn’t use any chemicals in his vineyards, preferring to allow the natural vitality of
the soil shine through in the wines.