Etnella is the second life of Davide Bentivegna, who left a corporate career to chase a single idea: wine as a living expression of land, culture and soul rather than a product. With no inherited vineyards, he built a natural winery from scratch on the slopes of Mount Etna.
Backstory
After years working for the multinational Siemens, Bentivegna felt unhappy and returned to his roots in the hills outside Catania, founding Etnella in 2008. His first wine, the Etna Rosso Notti Stellate, was bottled in 2010 from very old vines. From day one his approach was organic farming and natural winemaking.
The Region
Etnella lies on the northern and northeastern flanks of Mount Etna in Sicily, an active volcano whose black sands and decomposed lava give the wines their tension and salinity. Vineyards sit at high altitude, roughly 500 to 1000 meters, across a patchwork of distinct contrade.
Vineyards and Farming
Etnella works around eight hectares scattered among some fifteen different contrade, with old vines that range from decades to well over a century in age, many bush-trained in the traditional alberello. All vineyard work is done by hand and farmed organically.
Winemaking
In the Etnella cellar Bentivegna and his team work with minimal intervention, fermenting with indigenous yeasts, keeping sulfur additions low and filtration minimal. The goal is authentic wine that interprets the terroir and the winemaking traditions of Etna.
The Wines
The Etnella range covers red, white, rose, orange and sparkling wines from native grapes such as Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Carricante and Catarratto, alongside the flagship Notti Stellate and cuvees like Artigiano. The Attia bottling is drawn from Nerello Mascalese.
