The I Vigneri project is a company of growers with vineyards in Etna and eastern Sicily. Its name comes from the Maestranza dei Vigneri, an association of vineyard workers which dates to 1435 and subsequently became the bedrock of the region’s professional wine industry.  

Fast forward 500 years and I Vigneri today includes proprietors and wine experts like Salvo Foti and other local growers. Foti is an incredibly well-respected advisor and has worked with some of Sicily’s best estates, such as Gulfi, Benanti, and Vini Biondi. Salvo wanted his own project to make a wine that really sings, and thus I Vigneri was formed.  

I Vigneri practices non-invasive methods, respects local growing and winemaking traditions and uses the area’s own ancient grape varieties where possible. A constant in its vineyards is biodiversity, which is also found in the wildflowers growing at the edges of its fields. Many of the vines are more than 100 years old.  

The vines for its red, Vinupetra, are grown at around 700 metres altitude on the north side of the volcano. Here, the climate is more like the north of Italy with harsh, cold winters and hot, dry summers. Foti follows the albarello, or gobelet, planting system of 10,000 plants per hectare, which produces great fruit in the conditions. This means work can only be done by hand or mule in the vineyards.

Other varieties are grown at extreme altitude. A newly planted vineyard of whites is about 1200 metres above sea level and there is a vineyard of Alicante (Grenache) vines that are almost 100 years old at 1300 metres.

I Vigneri does not use fertilisers, herbicides or pesticides, only a copper/sulphur mix. Grapes are harvested by hand and fermentation occurs with native yeasts in open oak vats, without temperature control. Racking and bottling are conducted according to the lunar cycle and the wines are bottled with little or no filtration.