Baglio Sorìa

A seventeenth-century agricultural site

At the centre of Baglio Sorìa stands an old seventeenth-century baglio, part of Sicily’s historic rural architectural heritage. Its former production buildings reflect the social and economic importance traditionally attached to agricultural estates on the island.

The Di Gaetano family’s beginnings

The Di Gaetano family’s wine project first took root at Baglio Sorìa in the early 1980s. The estate became the starting point of the family’s work in western Sicily and later the heart of Firriato’s production. Camelot and Santagostino emerged as enduring labels associated with this formative period.

Santagostino was conceived by Salvatore Di Gaetano as an early experiment in combining native Sicilian grapes with international varieties: Nero d’Avola with Syrah for the red and Catarratto with Chardonnay for the white. Both versions were born at Baglio Sorìa and reached their thirtieth anniversary in 2024.

Organic conversion and environmental management

In 1995, synthetic-chemical vineyard treatments were abandoned as the wider farming operation moved toward organic agriculture. Vineyard and cellar management subsequently incorporated resource conservation, reuse, recycling and complete production traceability. Organic conversion across the agricultural holdings was completed in 2012 with BioAgriCert certification under EC Regulation 834/07.

Restoration and hospitality

A conservative restoration of Baglio Sorìa’s existing historic structures was undertaken in 2011. The work retained and enhanced the old buildings while introducing materials and technological measures intended to reduce their environmental and landscape impact.

In 2015, the seventeenth-century baglio reopened as Baglio Sorìa Resort & Wine Experience, extending the estate into hospitality on the Via del Sale. Environmental-management certification under the DNV-GL 1221/2009 EMAS framework followed for the resort in 2016. In 2017, the EMAS scope encompassed best environmental practices and the monitoring and improvement of environmental performance at the resort and the associated Trapani production facilities.

Baglio Sorìa covers 110 ha in western Sicily, a short distance from Trapani, Mount Erice and the Trapani coast. The vineyards occupy ventilated hills overlooking the Mediterranean and are predominantly oriented south; individual sites are also described with south/south-west or south-east exposure at approximately 200–230 m above sea level.

Constant winds—primarily southerly currents carrying Mediterranean sea breezes inland—combine with strong solar radiation and marked temperature dynamics. Frappato sites have significant day-to-night temperature variation. Direct sunlight is particularly important in the Syrah vineyards and in the south-facing red-grape sites.

The soils combine clay, red marl and abundant carbonates. Their carbonate complex is organogenic in origin and associated with Mount Erice. The geological profile includes marly clays containing planktonic foraminifera, sandstone intercalations, and thick Oligocene beds of calcirudite and calcarenite. “Rosso ammonitico” formations are especially associated with the estate’s red-wine sites.

Calcareous material moderates the clay matrix, while the soils’ capacity to retain mineral elements gives them both structure and a high mineral content. During summer, the carbonate-rich mixture of clay and red marl limits surface cracking and preserves moisture below ground. This reserve helps the vines avoid water stress and uneven ripening even in particularly dry years. The proximity of the coast, persistent ventilation and moisture-retentive subsoil together define Baglio Sorìa’s distinctive hillside environment.

Baglio Sorìa is managed through certified-organic precision viticulture. Synthetic herbicides, plant-protection chemicals and fertilisers are excluded; natural agents and microorganisms are used instead. Treatments and site–variety combinations are selected after assessing each vine’s susceptibility, while vigour is managed to maintain vegetative and productive balance.

Dry farming and spontaneous or managed ground cover between rows are central practices. The cover vegetation reduces erosion, enriches the soil with nutrients and provides habitat for beneficial insects that help suppress pests. Green manure and mulching contribute to a more self-contained production cycle, while pruning wood may be returned to the vineyard when specific nutritional needs justify it. High-efficiency water-distribution systems are used where water is needed to regulate the balance between canopy growth and crop production.

Canopy work is adapted to the estate’s intense sunlight. Pruning is carried out with particular precision so that leaves shelter individual bunches and enable balanced polyphenolic maturity rather than exposing the fruit indiscriminately.

The technical team monitors every stage from budbreak to grape maturity and compares observations with previous harvests. Monitoring of early varieties begins in mid-July. Berries are then sampled by vineyard or by individual parcel, particularly where a site behaved differently in earlier seasons. Harvest begins only after tasting and laboratory physicochemical analysis of each sample; individual vineyards or varieties may require several passes.

All grapes are picked by hand. Chardonnay normally starts the harvest soon after 15 August, though an earlier start is possible. Catarratto follows between the first and second ten days of September. Cabernet Sauvignon ripens in the same broad period; Merlot and Nero d’Avola are completed by the second ten days of September. Cabernet Franc is the last of the principal varieties to reach optimal maturity.

Production follows a traceable chain extending from grape reception through bottling and labelling. Vineyard origin and associated agronomic work are tracked throughout the process under the ISO 22005 traceability framework, while production management is subject to environmental and quality controls.

The historic agricultural production buildings at Baglio Sorìa were conservatively restored and adapted with lower-impact materials and technologies. The associated Trapani cellar was designed to limit heat gain and use natural cooling, helping maintain stable cellar temperatures with reduced energy demand. Its ageing spaces accommodate approximately 700 barrels and barriques. Packaging materials—including glass, paper labels, cartons and multilayer capsules—are separated for recycling.