About this wine
Vineyard and terroir
The cuvée draws on Nerello Mascalese from nine Passopisciaro contradas on Mount Etna's northern slope: Chiappemacine, Porcaria, Guardiola, Sciaranuova, Rampante, Malpasso, Favazza, Santo Spirito and Arcuria. The vineyards lie between 550 and 1,000 metres above sea level. The vines are approximately 100 years old and planted at about 8,000 vines per hectare, with a yield of 55 quintals of grapes per hectare, equivalent to approximately 5.5 metric tonnes.
No fertiliser is used. Vineyard treatments comprise clay, propolis, grapefruit-seed extracts, copper and sulphur. The grapes were hand-selected between 21 and 31 October. Cluster thinning began in early August, around 10 August in the Italian vintage account.
Grapes
100% Nerello Mascalese, assembled from a special selection of fruit grown across the estate's contradas.
Vinification
Vinification took place in steel vats for approximately 15 days.
Ageing
The wine matured for 18 months between cement vessels and large wooden casks. Bottling took place during the waning moon in May 2021.
Technical data
I.G.T. Terre Siciliane 2019. Production was limited to 1,550 magnums of 1.5 litres each. The 2019 is the sole vintage of this one-off wine.
Tasting profile
The blend combines the seductive spice associated with Sciaranuova, Guardiola's structure, Rampante's delicate floral character, Porcaria's juicy red fruit and Chiappemacine's herbal notes. Together these elements form an ethereal expression of the estate's Etna terroir. The season produced supple, fresh fruit with marked linearity and vertical acidity, alongside balanced rather than excessive alcohol.
Vintage notes
The 2019 season was late-ripening. April and May were decidedly cold, including a light frost on 6–7 May, and the persistent cool conditions delayed flowering until mid-June. Temperatures then rose steadily before approaching 40°C near the end of June. The heat continued through late September, enabling the vines to recover part of their earlier delay.
Greater diurnal variation at the beginning of October, coinciding with the first-quarter moon, accelerated phenolic ripeness in the red grapes. At harvest, technological and phenolic maturity were closely aligned. Limited interference from rain contributed to a vintage characterised by fresh fruit, vertical acidity and well-balanced alcohol.
Label / history
20 anni was created by Andrea Franchetti to commemorate two decades of winemaking on Mount Etna. It also recalls Passopisciaro's origins, before the estate began bottling individual vineyard wines separately in 2008. The name means “20 years.” Its minimal white label carries the wine's name, the winery logo and Franchetti's personal signature. Conceived as an homage to the estate's past, present and future, it was produced only from the 2019 vintage.