2016 Bianco Aurora

Salvo Foti is the single biggest expert of Etna and its wines. He acts as a consultant winemaker for a number of wineries, plus has created the Vigneri association, a group of estates that share similar philosophies and high quality wine production. Foti’s own estate (somewhat confusingly also called I Vigneri) farms a total of five and a half hectares (three and a half of which are in the area of Caselle and another two and a half between Castiglione and Bronte, with vines planted as high as 1,300 meters above sea level, just above the town of Randazzo). His wines, both white and red, rank amongst Italy’s very best. In fact, the best possible complement I can make is to say that there is no doubt in my mind that most estates from which Foti has left are now making wines that are less interesting and exciting than they were making under his tenure.