Eduardo Torres Acosta is an outsider who became an insider on one of Europe's most dramatic wine mountains. Born in the Canary Islands, he learned the vine on his father's small plot in Tenerife before chasing volcanic terroir to Sicily.
Backstory
In 2012 Torres moved to Sicily, interning with Arianna Occhipinti and then working as enologist at Passopisciaro, one of the pioneers of Etna's modern revival. Despite his outsider status he managed to rent fine old parcels from locals and start his own label. Through the 2017 vintage the grapes were trucked to Occhipinti's cellar in Vittoria, so the wines carried the IGT Terre Siciliane designation. In 2018 he converted a small Etna garage into his own winery and chose to keep the IGT label.
The Region
Torres Acosta's vines grow on the cooler, north-facing flank of Mount Etna, the active volcano that dominates eastern Sicily. The black volcanic soils and high elevation give the wines their tension, freshness and smoky mineral signature.
Vineyards and Farming
Torres works a handful of small parcels totalling well under two hectares, scattered between roughly 750 and 950 meters of altitude, many of them planted to old, ungrafted vines. He hand-harvests and farms only organically.
Winemaking
The Torres Acosta cellar approach is firmly non-interventionist. Grapes ferment spontaneously with native yeasts, and very little if any sulfur is added. The wines are essentially a transparent reading of high-altitude Etna fruit.
The Wines
The Torres Acosta reds are built on Nerello Mascalese with Nerello Cappuccio, Alicante, Garnacha and other field varieties; the whites draw on Minella, Catarratto, Grecanico, Carricante and Inzolia. Cuvees such as Versante Nord, Pirrera and Quota N map the individual terraces and parcels of the volcano.
