About Winery and Wines

Spadafora is a noble Sicilian family whose first historical records date back to 1230. During the centuries, the House dominated over five principalities, a dukedom, two marquisates, a shire and twenty-five baronies. Some of the members of the Family had prestigious offices during the ‘Regno di Sicilia’ and in some European Countries. The founder of Azienda Agricola Spadafora is Don Pietro Spadafora, who inherited the estate from the uncle Michele De Stefani, talented farmer and racehorse breeder. The estate was damaged by the 1968 earthquake, but Don Pietro manages to rebuild and redevelop the company, retraining the autochthonous vines and bringing to Sicily international grapes, for high quality wines. The current owner is Francesco Spadafora, son of Don Pietro, married with his wife Claudia and accompanied by his daughter Enrica.

I will describe you the cellar through my eyes. There is no cellar without harvest and there is no harvest without controlled yield. We enter from a great green door and we see a 30 metres corridor with cement vats on left and right. I understand that this looks like a concrete company advertise, but it was actually built according to the French early 900 trend. The concrete vats were renovated after the 1968 earthquake and they are under constant maintenance. I perfectly remember the first vinification and the first attempts in the ‘90s. I started by renovating 4 of these vats, 170 hl each. I cooled the must with a little exchanger powered by a fridge and I spent my nights in the cellar, checking the temperature. The year after the vats became 8 and I inserted temperature controlling plates…can you imagine my happiness when I did not have to sleep in the cellar anymore? Nowadays all 27 vats are renewed and I added stainless steel vats to stock smaller quantities. Nero d’Avola, Cabernet and Sole dei Padri’s syrah are now in 225lt barriques and 25 hl barrels. This is the place I live, during harvest and during the whole year. I must confess that living in front of the cellar I sometimes sneak inside during the evening and take a few bottles, to check the refining of the bottles.