Slow as the mountain: making wine in Etna’s shadow
AFP - Saturday, December 10, 2011
LINGUAGLOSSA, Italy — When a would-be winegrower comes to Salvo Foti, Sicily’s top wine consultant, for tips on starting a vineyard, he begins with a warning: to make good wine you have to be in it for the long haul.
“When they ask me ‘What’s the first thing I should do?’. I say ‘Have children’,” Foti told AFP, as he strolled among the thick, knotted vines of his own property on Mount Etna’s northern slope.
The son and grandson of Sicilian winemakers, Foti believes that getting the Italian island to shine requires a long-term commitment. His teenage son is at his side to oversee the harvest, learning just as he once did.
“Many winemakers are not thinking of the future,” says Foti. “If you’re thinking about money right now, you’re not thinking about terroir and what’s good for the vineyard.”
... read the rest here with AFP.
