Duca di Salaparuta
A brief history
The history of Duca di Salaparuta goes back almost 200 years and is the perfect combination of tradition and modernity.
In fact, Duca di Salaparuta is the company that has modernised Sicilian winemaking by creating Duca Enrico, the first bottled Nero d’Avola wine, and by contributing to its transition from bulk wine to bottled wine, in a trade segment that has ennobled the entire Sicilian production chain, offering economic and growth opportunities for the entire Sicilian winemaking industry. This growth goes back a long way, back to the days of the Alliata family, who was the first to leave Sicily to go and study oenology in France. It then sparked a radical change in the way Sicilian wine was conceived, which was thus imbued with elegance, sophistication and style.
Today, this spirit is still very much alive in the Duca di Salaparuta wines, in the genesis of a historic wine or in the creation of a new wine, focusing on the human factor: people who live in close, daily contact with the grapes, guiding their growth to the point where they become both a total expression of a territory and a materialisation of human vision. This approach to environmental sustainability starts with choosing the land that is naturally best suited to growing the chosen grape variety, which have good ventilation, are close to the sea and have a mild climate, so that less work is needed in the vineyard. The Duca di Salaparuta Estates – Suor Marchesa, Vajasindi and Risignolo – are managed through an integrated production system, which includes agronomic and phytosanitary practices that limit the choice of plant protection products and the number of treatments, and only allows mechanical weeding. The vineyard and its fruits are therefore treated with the utmost respect and can be appreciated in full in the wine glass, also due to the fact that the winery is managed in an equally sustainable way.
This approach translates into Suolo, a new project with a strong identity, which originates from the fertile and prosperous land that the vine sinks its roots into to thrive, and which is the result of a meticulous selection process carried out by the agronomist in the countryside and by the oenologist in the winery. The choice of specific parts of the vineyard within the Duca di Salaparuta Estates, featured on the label that says a lot about them, is the ultimate expression of the concept of zoning and of the strong connection with the land where our vineyards grow. This closeness is what makes it possible to choose the most suitable soils in order to create a new wine and preserve the natural qualities of the plant.
Within the Risignolo Estate, Duca di Salaparuta’s agronomists and oenologists have personally selected the most suitable rows of vines to offer, at the wine cellars, a Zibibbo wine with a pure essence, rich in Mediterranean sensations, which has a very modern and fresh aroma in the glass. The choice of this part of land, which is mainly clayey and calcareous, but has some sand in it too, and the fact that it faces south, where the sun is stronger and therefore grapes ripen earlier, are all factors that helped the oenologist develop the intense aromas of this wine. In fact, it offers a new interpretation of the typical flavours of this aromatic grape variety.
This is also what happened in the heart of Sicily, on the Suor Marchesa Estate where, on Soil No. 3, in just 4 hectares of north-facing land, Duca di Salaparuta’s Sauvignon Blanc found its home. This part of the vineyard, where the soil is mainly calcareous, is where this rich and well-structured – yet crisp and fresh – wine originates, for which the agronomist and oenologist painstakingly select the best grape bunches and carefully make them into wine, after which they are left to refine in barriques.
In fact, Duca di Salaparuta is the company that has modernised Sicilian winemaking by creating Duca Enrico, the first bottled Nero d’Avola wine, and by contributing to its transition from bulk wine to bottled wine, in a trade segment that has ennobled the entire Sicilian production chain, offering economic and growth opportunities for the entire Sicilian winemaking industry. This growth goes back a long way, back to the days of the Alliata family, who was the first to leave Sicily to go and study oenology in France. It then sparked a radical change in the way Sicilian wine was conceived, which was thus imbued with elegance, sophistication and style.
Today, this spirit is still very much alive in the Duca di Salaparuta wines, in the genesis of a historic wine or in the creation of a new wine, focusing on the human factor: people who live in close, daily contact with the grapes, guiding their growth to the point where they become both a total expression of a territory and a materialisation of human vision. This approach to environmental sustainability starts with choosing the land that is naturally best suited to growing the chosen grape variety, which have good ventilation, are close to the sea and have a mild climate, so that less work is needed in the vineyard. The Duca di Salaparuta Estates – Suor Marchesa, Vajasindi and Risignolo – are managed through an integrated production system, which includes agronomic and phytosanitary practices that limit the choice of plant protection products and the number of treatments, and only allows mechanical weeding. The vineyard and its fruits are therefore treated with the utmost respect and can be appreciated in full in the wine glass, also due to the fact that the winery is managed in an equally sustainable way.
This approach translates into Suolo, a new project with a strong identity, which originates from the fertile and prosperous land that the vine sinks its roots into to thrive, and which is the result of a meticulous selection process carried out by the agronomist in the countryside and by the oenologist in the winery. The choice of specific parts of the vineyard within the Duca di Salaparuta Estates, featured on the label that says a lot about them, is the ultimate expression of the concept of zoning and of the strong connection with the land where our vineyards grow. This closeness is what makes it possible to choose the most suitable soils in order to create a new wine and preserve the natural qualities of the plant.
Within the Risignolo Estate, Duca di Salaparuta’s agronomists and oenologists have personally selected the most suitable rows of vines to offer, at the wine cellars, a Zibibbo wine with a pure essence, rich in Mediterranean sensations, which has a very modern and fresh aroma in the glass. The choice of this part of land, which is mainly clayey and calcareous, but has some sand in it too, and the fact that it faces south, where the sun is stronger and therefore grapes ripen earlier, are all factors that helped the oenologist develop the intense aromas of this wine. In fact, it offers a new interpretation of the typical flavours of this aromatic grape variety.
This is also what happened in the heart of Sicily, on the Suor Marchesa Estate where, on Soil No. 3, in just 4 hectares of north-facing land, Duca di Salaparuta’s Sauvignon Blanc found its home. This part of the vineyard, where the soil is mainly calcareous, is where this rich and well-structured – yet crisp and fresh – wine originates, for which the agronomist and oenologist painstakingly select the best grape bunches and carefully make them into wine, after which they are left to refine in barriques.
