Pianoro Cuddìa

Origins within Firriato

Pianoro Cuddìa belongs to the group of estates created by the Di Gaetano family in the Trapani countryside. Firriato’s wider project began in the early 1980s, when Salvatore Di Gaetano identified the viticultural potential of the countryside between the Trapani coast and Erice. The first plantings of the family project focused on Nero d’Avola, Catarratto and Inzolia and were managed through a vineyard-centred approach intended to deliver healthy grapes harvested at full maturity.

The business subsequently acquired additional agricultural properties, developed new wines and refined its cellar technology. Vinzia Novara Di Gaetano joined Salvatore in the full-time direction of the company in the mid-1990s and became directly involved with the estates. From 1998, she also became the public face of Firriato’s labels and communications.

Development of Pianoro Cuddìa

Pianoro Cuddìa developed as a 35-hectare estate devoted entirely to native Sicilian varieties. Its ampelographic platform comprises eight varieties and supports distinct white- and red-grape crus. The estate became particularly important to Firriato’s long programme of recovering Perricone, a historic western Sicilian variety that had become increasingly rare.

The Perricone programme began with the selection of old vines scattered through the variety’s historic growing areas. Plants bearing looser bunches, smaller berries and naturally lower yields were selected to retain a high skin-to-pulp ratio and favour the accumulation of anthocyanins and complex aromatic precursors. Successive agronomic trials and microvinifications identified the germplasm used for Firriato’s own Perricone clone. Pedological zoning then identified Pianoro Cuddìa’s predominantly clayey, semi-arid environment as particularly suitable for the clone’s vegetative development. This work ultimately established Perricone as one of the defining plantings of the estate.

Organic conversion and environmental management

Firriato began a structured sustainability programme in 1989. Synthetic chemical treatments were abandoned in 1995 in favour of organic farming principles. In 1999, approximately 6,400 trees were planted across the Trapani estates to help reduce carbon emissions. An experimental vineyard dedicated to germplasm and wine-growing biodiversity followed in 2004.

All of the family’s estates subsequently obtained organic certification under BioAgriCert. Current certification is governed by Regulation (EU) 2018/848. The vineyard programme is accompanied by traceability and environmental-management systems covering the chain from vineyard to bottle, including ISO 22005 traceability, ISO 14001 environmental management and greenhouse-gas monitoring. Firriato later neutralised its reported greenhouse-gas footprint under a carbon-neutrality protocol.

Present generation

The family project is now led by Salvatore and Vinzia’s daughter, Irene Di Gaetano, together with her husband, Federico Lombardo di Monte Iato. Pianoro Cuddìa remains a specialist Trapani estate whose identity rests on native varieties, clay-rich and sodium-rich soils, precision viticulture and the recovery of Perricone.

Pianoro Cuddìa is farmed under Firriato’s certified-organic programme. The current operator certificate is issued by BioAgriCert under Regulation (EU) 2018/848. Synthetic pesticides, synthetic fertilisers and artificial plant-protection products are avoided. Vineyard management instead seeks to work with the soil’s natural fertility, the biological cycles of the vines and the interactions among plants, animals and the wider agricultural ecosystem.

Precision viticulture determines the training system and management of each estate, variety and vineyard section. Protocols are adjusted metre by metre and vine by vine in response to differences within individual plots. This includes choosing varieties and sites, monitoring vine reactions to permitted natural treatments, controlling vigour and balancing growth against crop load.

Dry farming has a central role, complemented by rational irrigation where vine balance or exceptional water stress requires it. Emergency irrigation was necessary during the exceptionally hot, humid and dry 2007 season. Natural or sown cover between rows limits erosion, while green cover, green manure and mulching contribute to a self-supporting production cycle. Pruning wood is reused as an organic resource within the vineyard.

Canopy and bunch management are intended to avoid overloading the vines and to maintain a yield per plant consistent with fruit quality. The eight native varieties receive differentiated agronomic treatment according to their individual biology and microclimate. Perricone is trained on trellises with Guyot pruning; cordon and spur-pruned systems are also used within the Trapani production programme.

Harvest dates follow the natural ripening of each variety rather than a single estate schedule. Grapes are picked manually, selected bunch by bunch and placed in wooden crates to protect their integrity. Samples, ripeness and sanitary condition are monitored before fruit enters the cellar. Historic harvest accounts also record limited sulphur use in 2008 and a 40% fall in productivity during the 2007 downy-mildew and sirocco episode, when timely intervention and emergency irrigation preserved the remaining crop.

Grapes from Pianoro Cuddìa are processed at the Paceco winery, the production, maturation and bottling centre for fruit from the Trapani estates. Incoming bunches are inspected and selected before each variety and parcel is assigned its own production pathway.

Cellar work is not organised as a single standard sequence. Destemming, pressing, punch-downs, transfers and maturation are adjusted to the character of each lot. Processing equipment, cold technology and tank capacity are selected to match protocols created for individual grape batches. Temperature is monitored throughout processing, maturation and barrel ageing, while the main ageing cellar maintains stable temperature and humidity.

White-grape processing can begin with destemming and crushing followed by soft pressing and static settling of the must in the absence of oxygen, using nitrogen. Selected yeast is then inoculated into the clarified must. Fermentation and ageing take place in stainless steel; one documented programme includes six months on fine lees with daily lees movement. Bottling follows, with additional bottle ageing before release.

The red varieties are vinified separately so that each cru retains its own varietal character. A documented pathway begins with destemming, followed by ten days of skin contact in stainless-steel vessels. After racking and gentle pressing, malolactic fermentation is completed. Depending on the lot, maturation takes place in stainless steel or in French and American oak barriques. The red four-variety programme uses ten months in French and American oak followed by twelve months in bottle. Perricone can mature for approximately twelve months in French-oak barriques and a further twelve months in bottle.

Final blending is conducted only after repeated tastings establish the maturity and balance of the separate cuvées. French oak is selected with different toast levels according to the intended lot. Traceability extends from vineyard reception through labelling and bottling under the company’s ISO 22005 system.

Pianoro Cuddìa is managed as an expression of a single, demanding environment rather than as a source of interchangeable fruit. Its clay and sodium content, dryness, wind and temperature variation are treated as active components of winegrowing decisions. The naturally slower productive cycle imposed by sodium-rich soils is accepted as a defining constraint of the site.

The estate’s approach places quality first in the vineyard: vines are not forced to carry excessive crops, varieties are matched to specific soil and microclimatic conditions, and harvest is determined by the maturity of each grape rather than by a fixed calendar. In the cellar, the same principle rejects standardised processing. Each lot receives a protocol intended to preserve the character developed during the growing season.

Native Sicilian biodiversity is central to the estate. Eight indigenous varieties are cultivated, with the recovery of Perricone representing the most focused expression of this principle. Old-vine selection, agronomic trials, microvinification and zoning were used to return a nearly vanished local variety to production rather than replacing it with a more convenient alternative.

Environmental responsibility is expressed through certified-organic agriculture, natural soil fertility, ground cover, reuse of pruning material, reduced energy inputs, traceability and monitoring of water, waste and greenhouse-gas impacts. The family presents stewardship of the land and the transfer of its habitats to future generations as core responsibilities of ownership.