Each with its own story, each with a past that has its roots in the essence of Sicily. Each of the ten districts that form the Alta Mora estate in Cusumanoone of the most interesting cellars on Etnatells the story of generations of farmers, the Greeks who brought the vineyards and even further back that of a roaring land. Because in the end it is she, the earth, who, as always, decides everything. More than ever that of Etna, the enormous volcano that stands out on the sea, that smokes, snorts, changes as the landscape wants, brings the most incandescent heat and then new life, the mosses that colonize the land where the lava, then the brooms, the first trees and finally the crops, the vineyards which here speak of minerals and the fire of the earth and the sea down there, from which the cool breezes of the night rise.
They are the ones who breathe in the Contrada Arrigo, just outside the town of Linguaglossa, where theancient millstone – the building with the tank used from the Hellenistic age onwards for the pressing and fermentation of musts – has been renovated by the Cusumano family, maintaining the ancient structure, adding some works of art and creating a kitchen, a living room and six rooms that allow the company’s guests to make people listen to the magic of the nights on Etna: a concert of crickets, the moon, some rustling and the centenary oak woodsand which spread a reconciling calm over the land and the vineyards.
Light and shadow
We are far from the first vineyard of Ficuzzato Partinichi in the province of Palermo, where the story of this brilliant family of wine began. Two brothers, Alberto and Diego Cusumanothan with his father’s experience Francis and with the help of the winemaker Mario Ronco they brought their first bottle to the market in 2001: high vines, elegant but powerful wines, revolutionary choices, which are never satisfied with any goal in the search for the best. The same choices made here, for example High Moraborn in 2013 with the first three districts.
«The bravest thing I learned to do“, tells Diego Cusumanositting at the table for a lunch in the cellar in front of the most irresistible dishes and flavors of Sicilian cuisine, «is waiting for the right time to harvest the grapes. A struggle between the risk of losing the harvest and the desire to reach the perfect moment of ripeness. Yes, it takes courage to wait, but that’s how it is and I’m fine with it: There is no middle ground in wine». In Cusumano’s world there are clear choices, black and white. This is what he saw Vittorio Storarothe three-time Oscar-winning director of photography when he was called to tell the story of the Alta Mora winery and he chose to tell light and shadow.
A strong bond between Cusumano and culture, which leads him to be wine partners Of Taobuck the event that this year invited on stage Taormina an exceptional panel of names, from Marina Abramovich to the Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 Jon Fosse. Or what was celebrated at the Alta Mora wines meeting the artist Paolo Troilo with the nine works of the project Tymeacronym for **Thank You Mother Etna **(whose proceeds supported Dynamo Camp). A bond with palpable beauty, which is structured in the bond with the earth.
The Heroic Vineyards: 160 Years of Strength
Small houses made of dark gray lava stones, terraces so small as to hold even just two plants that have created geometries on the territory of intrinsic artistic value. This is how the crops are grown at the foot of Etna in that area up to 1000 metres that welcomes them, then higher up you enter the world designed by the volcano, with lava flows that cross the roads, insinuate themselves into the woods, with birch trees, oak groves, the ancient crater conesthe flowers of extraordinary beauty, and even higher up only the volcanic sand.
Almost 900 meters above the sea we walk among the Guardiola vineyardsthe first district of Cusumano on Etna, together with Lorenzo The Doorresponsible for the Alta Mora Vineyards, a character who well describes the bond with the land of those who work here, where you no longer know if it is the man who cultivates the vines or if it is the vines that grow the men and their feelings. The sapling plants, as per tradition in this complex territory, cultivated one by one, each with its name for each moment of life, just as the lenticular cloud that rests on the top of Etna has a name, it is the «Contessa». A magical bond with the earth, since the dawn of time: “Look at these plants,” says Lorenzo, “At the moment the drought in Sicily is very severe, but they have this unique vigor, which I can’t even explain, maybe they are the spirits of Etna, I don’t know,” he comments with a unique way of telling, a legacy of an almost arcane history of tales.
Even for Guardiola it took a wait: after a long search the Cusumano family found and purchased it in 2013, a Greek amphitheater with narrow terraces, all to be restored, rebuilding one by one the ancient dry stone walls with the help of two elderly people from here. “There was no other choice – comments Diego Cusumano – you have to follow the path of beauty of this place”.
Then they took the cuttings from the nearby farm, to have the purest DNA of the Nerello Masclaese. And so they found the other districts one by one, which create a unique blend for both the red Etna Doc that for Etna Bianco Doc which comes from the grapes of Loading, from which a savory wine with exceptional character is born. But the exception is the vineyard next to the Guardiola, which Lorenzo proudly shows us: 160 year old pre-Phyloxera vinesplants, as he says “who have less strength but more knowledge” is that “They teach care and respect for the wisdom of the elderly».
Alta Mora wines, which White Lotus also likes
They are born like this Alta Mora winestwo vines, iNerello Mascalese and Caricantevinified with their own selected yeasts, with which they are bottled the Etna Rosso Doc, the Etna Bianco Doc, the Etna Rosato Doc, and the two Crus, the Guardiola Etna Rosso Doc and the Feudo di Mezzo Etna Rosso Doc. Wines with a strong connection to the territory, with a commitment to sustainability guaranteed by SOStainthe brand of of Sicilian viticulture which deals with environmental and also social sustainability. And wines that became the trend around the world when they appeared in an episode of Wine Lotus. “Since then my phone hasn’t stopped ringing,” says Diego. And at the Alta Mora winery there is a queue of Americans who come from the chicest hotels in Taormina (starting with the San Domenico Palace) in search of the “star” wine that comes from the strength of this land. Or as Diego Cusumano says: «We are only minority shareholders, the majority shareholder is the eternal father».
Source: Vanity Fair
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