“Vino di Anna” is a small, family wine estate situated high on the northern slopes of Mt Etna, near the village of Solicchiata. The vineyards are located in different Contrade (historic lava flows) from the picturesque, red, iron-rich pumice soils of Contrada Monte Pomiciaro, near Linguaglossa to Piano Filici where lies the secluded vineyard of “Don Alfio” around and up the volcano to Contrada Rampante, onto Contrada Pirao, which touches the National Park at an altitude of 1000 metres, ending on the north-western side of the volcano with vineyards in Contrade Nave and Tartaraci. Vino di Anna" winery is the creation of an amazing couple (Anna Martens and Eric Nario) that recognized Etna as a unique place to work, live and grow their two lovely children.Anna Martens and Eric Narioo made their first wine together on Mount Etna in 2008. In 2010, the couple purchased their first vineyard of old vine Nerello Mascelese in Contrada Crasà, along with a neighbouring, derelict palmento and “deposito”. Today, the family wine estate owns 7 hectares of land spread across the northern slopes of the volcano, which they farm biodynamically. Together, they make a range of wines, expressive of their “terroir”. Anna Martens has been involved in making wine for over thirty years. Originally from Adelaide, South Australia, she is formally trained as an oenologist. However, a chance meeting with her now husband, Eric Narioo in 2004, set her on a different path from making Super Tuscans. Eric, one of the early advocates of “natural” wines took her on a journey through the Savoie, Jura and Loire to see how vignerons were farming their land and creating their wines. Anna was hooked and with Eric by her side, set out to find their own plot of vineyard to work together. The fascination and relatively unknown terraces of Mt Etna caught their attention and in 2008, their first wine “Vino di Anna Rosso” was made. Frenchman, Eric Narioo has been in the wine industry forever! Passionate about wine, Eric has been sourcing wines of terroir and typicity from around the globe for years. Over the past fifteen years, as well as being the MD of the highly successful UK wine importing company, Les Caves de Pyrene and behind the creation of a group of natural wine bars and restaurants, he has been responsible for the vineyards and winemaking at “Vino di Anna” with Anna. Always with an “eye” for an abandoned vineyard and a desire to experiment, perhaps this wine estate should have been called “Vini di Eric”…. only it doesn’t sound quite as good in Italian. The “Vino di Anna” team is young, energetic, passionate and local. Tonino, Nino, Valerio, Antonio, and Enzo have all been part of the “squadra” of Vino di Anna for many years. Working alongside Eric and Anna, they hand tend the vineyards, help produce and bottle the wines, harvest the olives and tend to the bees. Each one of them are an important part of this small, family domain. Nerello Mascalese is the principal red grape, coupled with small percentages of Nerello Cappuccio and Alicante. The white is a field blend, mainly Grecanico Dorato and Carricante.The vineyards range from 760 m – 1000 metres in altitude, are terraced and are farmed organically by hand. The soils are black, decomposed lava (volcanic), except around Linguaglossa, where they are bright red and full of iron. The mineral content is very high giving the wines a noticeable sapidity. Wines are made with minimal intervention, natural yeasts, no additives, no fining or filtering and little or no SO2.

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