2017 Cometa

Planeta now owns wineries in all of Sicily’s most important production zones, including Menfi, Vittoria, Noto and Etna. The latest project, the wines of which are just about to be launched on the US market, is that of Capo Milazzo (in Sicily’s northeastern corner). The monovariety Nocera wine and the Mamertino will be this winery’s most important wines; the first is made from a rare local variety that is finally being appreciated for its very good, structured and perfumed red wines, while the second, more structured still, holds the distinction of having been one of Julius Caesar’s favorite wines (and Pliny the Elder classified it as the fourth best wine of ancient Rome in his list of 195 known wines of the times). The Capo Milazzo project is an especially meritorious one, as it is ecosustainable and has noteworthy social and economic ramifications. The vineyard land farmed by Planeta had been abandoned up until 2011, when the family was able to work out a deal with the land owners, the Fondazione Lucifero. And so La Baronia was born. At eight hectares of vineyard and 20 hectares of ancient olive groves, it is the smallest of the Planeta estates. The land is planted to mostly Nero d’Avola and Nocera, but Planeta is also planning experimental cultivation of three other extremely rare native grapes: Vitraruolo, Lucignola and Catanese Nera, all typical of northeastern Sicily but abandoned a long time ago.