On June 22, 15 of London’s finest sommeliers were lucky enough to be the first wine professionals to be invited by Giovanni Gaja for a tour of the vineyards and the brand-new, state-of-the-art winery at Idda, the joint venture between the Gaja and Graci families in Belpasso on the southwest slope of Mt Etna, Sicily.
The winery will eventually welcome non-professional wine lovers, too. “We love to have visitors,” said Giovanni Gaja, “but we just started, so are taking things step by step. We need to be fully ready before welcoming people who will rightly expect the best from us.” No date has been set, therefore, but it will doubtless be keenly anticipated by adventurous aficionados, who will be keeping their eyes peeled.
Angelo Gaja, current head of the legendary family firm based in Barbaresco, father of Giovanni, Gaia, and Rossana, readily recognized the great potential of Etna to produce charming, characterful, terroir-transparent wines. So, when the opportunity arose to buy land on its southwest slopes in 2016, in collaboration with one of the leading local producers, Alberto Graci, he seized it with both hands.
Idda already has 20ha (50 acres) of vineyard, mostly planted to Carricante, one of the grape varieties authorized for white wines, along with a little Nerello Mascalese for reds. The vineyards are at altitudes between 600 and 800 meters (2,000–2,600ft) above sea level, across the villages of Belpasso and Biancavilla. These had been largely forgotten for many decades in terms of wine production, but Gaja and Graci are changing the perception of this neglected and undervalued southwest sector, with other producers now taking an active interest, buying or renting vineyards or planting new ones.
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Day-to-day management of the Idda winery rests with the talented young winemaker, Antonio La Fata, who joined the project in 2023. He first made his mark in Romania, at Rasova, before being invited by Angelo Gaja to join Idda.
Annual production currently averages around 70,000 bottles, but the hope is to increase this to 250,000 bottles, according to Giovanni Gaja. This may be just the beginning for the Gaja family in a completely different land from their Piedmontese home. But the ambition, vision, and savoir faire that saw them expand into Bolgheri in Tuscany with Ca’ Marcanda nearly 30 years ago, will surely see them be equally successful on their volcano at the opposite end of the land of the vine.
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