The Contrade of Etna Edition XIV

The Contrade of Etna is one of the most awaited events in the world of wine, the Crew company is already working on the 2023 edition, the fourteenth edition which will be held from 15 to 17 April, also in Castiglione di Sicilia, at the Picciolo Etna Golf Resorts.

There will be many new features, explain Massimo Nicotra and Raffaella Schirò of Crew: “We are very proud of the results achieved and we invite everyone to visit the official website of “Contrade” to share the results achieved together, but we want to anticipate some numbers, starting from the 90 wineries exhibitors who determined with their presence the absolute success of the 2022 edition.
Here are some numbers: 7,000 visitors registered in the three days, 100 accredited journalists from the national and international press, 3,000 bottles uncorked, 8,000 accesses to our site and more than 25,000 pages viewed. No one could have predicted a result of this magnitude.

THE HISTORY OF CONTRADE
It was 2008 when Andrea Franchetti, an eclectic wine pioneer, transformed a visionary idea into the most important wine exhibition on Etna. Thus, “Contrade dell’Etna” was born, an intuition, characterized by a strongly convivial imprint that wants to bring together local producers in the ritual of the “en primeur” imported directly from the historical tradition of Bordeaux. The first edition sees the participation of a few producers, involved by the histrionic Franchetti, owner of the Etnean company Passopisciaro and the Tuscan Tenuta di Trinoro. The idea is simple and brilliant. Give new life to a territory with a centuries-old tradition: Etna.

It is on the slopes of the largest active volcano in Europe that rise in fact all the Contrade, each characterized by unique and inimitable properties and peculiarities, determined by the different compositions of the soil.

The organoleptic characteristics, the different microclimates and the unprecedented stratified composition of the soil mean that each Etna vineyard acquires its own identity, with a strong and incomparable soul, that makes unique and unrepeatable the explosive charm of the Volcano that explodes powerful, inside every sip of wine. Etna, “in Muntagna” for the inhabitants, with its 3,300 meters of altitude for 45 km in diameter, ensures exclusive and constantly evolving wine production thanks to the volcanic activity in perennial movement, which continuously transforms the soil, ensuring uniqueness and character to the vineyards of the neighboring Contrade.

The combination Etna-Wine has given shine for centuries to the entire island that exported the precious nectar throughout Europe. The diffusion of the local wine developed further with the construction of the Circumetnea railway, inaugurated in 1895 thanks to which the connections between the hinterland and the port of Riposto were simplified. It was towards the end of the nineteenth century, with the start of the industrial revolution, that the lands of Etna suffered a heavy setback due to the abandonment of the countryside to the advantage of the cities. It will be necessary to wait until the early ’60s to see the flourishing of Etna wines with the establishment, in 1968, of one of the first appellations present in Italy, that of Etna DOC.

In the years “Contrade dell’Etna” has witnessed a slow but inexorable evolution, the winemakers who gathered in private cellars to taste and discuss the vintages, aware of the dizzying escalation in the world of wines, have kept pace with the times and the needs increasingly targeted towards their wineries, appreciated at international levels.

The growing prestige of the labels has given power to the event that while following the evolution of the “Etna phenomenon” with great spirit of adaptation has always wanted to give continuity and a sense of belonging to the true essence desired by its creator.
The pure and genuine spirit of its founder, always going forward, year after year, has guaranteed the imprint so desired by Franchetti and married by the winemakers who with attachment and respect continue what is expressed as a vocation.
Passion and hard work towards “from Muntagna” to honor a unique territory, which in these parts is considered as “one of the family”.