Contrada Santo Spirito di Passopisciaro

A boundless source of ideas and initiatives, a dynamic personality and a volcanic soul, Dr. Moretti Cuseri could not find a better place to expresses himself than in Etna.
Dante described this area as “The island of fire”. Here we find some of the oldest centenary, ungrafted vines that are cultivated in Italy. The alberello vines, also referred to as “bush style” are trained onto black molten rock terraces and have found their ideal setting in this region for thousand of years

The fourteen hectares of Contrada Santo Spirito di Passopisciaro are located at 700 metres above sea level and are planted with local grapes that are autochthonous to Etna. The red wine is Nerello Mascalese and the white wine is Carricante and Minnella. There are some fundamental factors that contribute to growing great grapes, such as volcanic soil, which can sometimes be stony and gravelly, sandy or ashy. Also, good ventilation is very important as well as the age of the vines, many of wich are pre-phylloxera.