Barone di Villagrande azienda vinicola

About Winery and Wines

We believe that the nature that surrounds us is the most precious heritage we have and working respecting its delicate balance has always been our goal. Our intervention is limited on assisting the vine first and then the grapes on an emotional journey. The wines born in our cellar are expression of the terroir, of the vines, of the vintage. We are aware too that man with its work, its choices, its wise guidance, is able to shape unique and delicious creations with nature’s complicity. In the elegance and fragrance of our wines is concealed our experience, our land, our pride.

Villagrande is not only the noble title: is the name of the contrada in Milo where my family has been living for more than 300 years. We are on the eastern slope of Etna that overlooks Taormina and the Ionian Sea. We are at 700 metres above the sea level. Here the climate is far from being Sicilian. Here the climate is Etnean. Temperatures and precipitations are affected by the volcanic activity and the altitude. In autumn and winter, we reach ten times more rain than the rest of Sicily. In winter and at the beginning of the germination, minimum temperatures can reach values below 0° C being dangerous for the vines. In summer maximum temperatures are never as high as in the rest of Sicily, and rain is almost absent. This absence of humidity is accentuated by the field’s slope, deeply draining due to its igneous origin. The huge thermal excursion between day and night is a real blessing for these grapes as it reaches even 30° C. This results in a lower alcohol content compared to the average of Sicilian wines, with a peculiar richness in fixed acidity and extracts.