Salvo Foti Six bottle collection: I Vigneri, The History of Mount Etna

This six-pack is a focused journey through the world of Salvo Foti and I Vigneri, one of the most culturally important projects on Mount Etna. It brings together traditional village-level drinking, old-vine depth, extreme-altitude viticulture and two distinctive expressions of Carricante from the eastern slopes of the volcano.

The name I Vigneri comes from the Maestranza dei Vigneri, the historic guild of Etna vine-growers founded in Catania in 1435. Salvo Foti revived that spirit through a modern project based on manual work, alberello-trained vines, chestnut posts, native grapes, palmento culture and the preservation of Etna’s old agricultural intelligence.

The case begins with I Vigneri Rosso, the most direct introduction to the project. Made from Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, it is fresh, savoury and transparent, with red fruit, herbs, fine tannins and the smoky mineral character of volcanic soils. This is the wine that establishes the reference point for the rest of the collection.

Vinupetra takes the same tradition into a deeper and more structured register. Produced from old vines in Contrada Porcaria, on the northern side of Etna, it combines Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio and local companion varieties in a wine of greater density, mineral authority and ageing potential.

At the summit of the case is Vinupetra Viti Centenarie, one of the rarest wines produced by Salvo Foti. It comes from a minute parcel within Vigna Calderara containing roughly 1,300 vines, many more than one hundred years old and still ungrafted. Production is limited to approximately 1,000 numbered bottles. This is not simply a more concentrated Vinupetra, but a living document of ancient Etna viticulture: old field-blend vines, lava stones, extremely low yields and entirely manual farming.

Vinudilice shows the most extreme and unexpected side of I Vigneri. Grown at approximately 1,200 metres in Vigna Bosco, one of the highest vineyards on Etna, it is a field blend of red and white local varieties made as a deeply coloured rosato. It is tense, aromatic and wild, shaped by cold nights, old vines and the severe conditions of the upper volcano.

The two white wines complete the journey. Aurora, from Contrada Caselle in Milo, combines Carricante and Minnella Bianca in a bright, saline and transparent expression of eastern Etna. Palmento Caselle offers a more concentrated and structured interpretation of the same landscape, with Carricante at the centre and a longer, more profound mineral line.

Together, these six wines reveal the full range of Salvo Foti’s work: the traditional Etna red, the old-vine cru, the exceptional centenary-vine selection, the high-altitude field blend and two serious volcanic whites from Milo.

This is a case for drinkers who want to understand Etna beyond fashion. It is about native grapes, living vineyards, manual work and one of the most important custodians of Sicilian wine culture.

*10% discount for purchases of 12 bottles or more does not apply to our 6 and 12 bottle collections as already discounted