- ITALY -

Sicily, on its elevated hillsides and subject to the cool winds of the seaside, reserves some beautiful surprises, far from the mass of unexciting wines that unfortunately characterise the island's reputation. In the north-west of Sicily, in the hinterland of Palermo in the territory of Monreale, Francesco Guccione is one of the young generation of winemakers who offer a beautiful and strong image of authenticity of their terroir.

Francesco Guccione took over in the 2000s the agricultural-viticultural estate that his father had converted to organic cultivation in the 1990s, and he soon made the choice to move towards biodynamic viticulture and to vinify and bottle his production, signing his first vintage in 2012. The 10 ha of the estate - 6 ha of vines, as well as cereals - are located on the hills of the Monreale region (province of Palermo), in the Cerasa area near the village of San Cipirello: the freshness of the marl and limestone soil and the fresh air brought by the altitude (around 500 m) and by the wind coming from the sea constitute favourable conditions for a chemical-free culture. In the plots, trebbiano dominates - an omnipresent grape variety in its various forms in Italian vineyards - alongside the very Sicilian catarratto, perricone and nerello mascalese. In the cellar, the vinification is as natural and non-interventionist as possible, with only a small dose of added sulphur, to produce wines of remarkable sincerity and authenticity.