Plot twist on Etna. Kevin Harvey, a Californian billionaire who a few years ago had fallen in love with this part of Sicily and with its wines has decided to sell everything. Stop the Æris brand wines produced on Etna with which this American tycoon – who has financed start-ups of the caliber of eBay, Instagram and Uber – had decided to produce on the volcano. Both the Milo vineyards in Caselle, a highly prized area for producing whites, and the Montelaguardia vineyards, in the territory of Randazzo, another area highly suited to producing great reds, have been sold. The sale price of almost six hectares is significant. And it belies the idea that land values on Etna are suffering a setback or are even going backwards. The 5.7 hectares of vineyards were sold for one million and 250 thousand euros, which, calculator in hand, comes to about 220 thousand euros per hectare, including some properties that don’t count for much.
Cronache di Gusto is able to tell the details of the sale. The vineyard in Milo, about 2.4 hectares, all cultivated with mechanized Carricante bush-trained vines, was sold to Mario Paoluzi, the owner of I Custodi delle Vigne dell’Etna who thus strengthens his production potential already sufficiently adequate to be one of the protagonist winemakers of the volcano. The other vineyard, placed in Montelaguardia, 3.3 hectares of which half a hectare with century-old vines, all Nerello Mascalese, also bush-trained (the land also includes a tower of Spanish origin and a small building) was instead purchased by Tenuta dei Ciclopi. This latter winery is the project that brings together Giordano Lorefice, Riccardo Messina and Giacomo Palazzolo, three friends united by their passion for wine who already own three hectares scattered between the northern and eastern slopes of the volcano and are producers of three labels and other references on the way.
The common thread of this sale is Salvo Foti, owner of I Vigneri who certainly needs no introduction to the insiders. He also closely follows the Tenuta dei Ciclopi project. Here in August 2016 we reported the arrival of Harvey, struck by Etna and its wines. A subsequent story in Wine Spectator by Robert Camuto describes Harvey’s infatuation with a 2001 Pietramarina by Benanti in the years when Foti was the winemaker. “A white wine,” he will tell Camuto, “surprising for its pleasantness and complexity.” From there, the idea of contacting Foti and starting the business on Etna. The Æris brand wine has never been marketed in Italy. Harvey has always sold it in the USA, often directly online together with the labels produced in the various estates scattered around California, all under the Rhys brand. We remember a very good Pinot Noir in a tasting. In recent years, Harvey has come to Etna several times with his private plane directly from California together with his winemaker and his team. It iss worth noting that, impressed by the vineyards and grapes of Etna, Harvey asked Foti to also plant vineyards in California with Carricante, Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, always with the rigorous methods applied by the I Vigneri group. A major investment that has begun to bear fruit, as Harvey himself tells Camuto. Two years ago he was already producing both Carricante and Nerello Mascalese, but only with the 2021 vintage the release of a great wine with the same typical grapes of Etna was announced. The reasons that pushed Harvey to sell everything are unknown. It is likely a reorganization of the entire wine asset belonging to this billionaire. Perhaps the idea of being able to successfully replicate in California what he produced 10 thousand kilometers away convinced him to sell everything. Who knows.