Buscemi
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Mirella Buscemi may still be a relative newcomer to Etna’s storied terroirs, but her wines are already shining bright. A chemist in her past life, she was inspired by her Grandparents to move to Sicily and start making wine. Soon, through a matrimonial partnership with esteemed Etna winemaker Alberto Graci, Mirella began farming a 1.5 ha lot of 90-100+-year-old vines in the peripheral subzone (Contrada) of ‘Tartaraci,’ at an elevation of 1,000 meters above sea level, in the ancient village of Bronte. With her (and her husband's) expertise and centenarian bushvines at supremely high elevations, Mirella Buscemi is making some of the most profound wines in Etna.
The origins of Mirella Buscemi’s singular lot of land began in 1799 when British Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the French in the Mediterranean and was honored with the title “The Duke of Bronte” by the Neapolitan King. He also inherited much vine-laden land on Mount Etna’s northwestern face.
The vineyards outside the titular village of Bronte, 1,000 meters above the azure Mediterranean, still retain the same mix of grapes as they did centuries ago: the Sicilian legacy grape Nerello Mascalese and Grenache, a remnant from the Spanish house of Bourbon, which ruled the region in the 18th century.
Today, Azienda Agricola Buscemi continues to honor these grapes, which produce wines of immense freshness in the volcanic soils at high elevations. Though the vineyards, in the subzone of “Tartaraci” lie outside of the famed Etna DOC, and thus the wines produced carry the humble “Sicilia Bianco” designation, the vineyard’s volcanic soils have long been prized for producing high-quality wines.
Winemaker Mirella Buscemi, originally from Syracuse, is a trained chemist who followed her heart to Sicily, inspired by her winemaker grandparents. She soon met Alberto Graci, a respected vigneron of Azienda Agricola Graci. As a wedding gift from her husband, Mirella received the historic vineyard of Tartaraci.
The Tartaraci vineyard is a contiguous, north-facing single-vineyard plot of just under four acres with 90+ year-old vines planted in alberello (aka little bush, or bushvine). Its north aspect allows for a long slow maturation of the fruit. Mirella tends her vines by hand, utilizing sustainable practices in the vineyard. The grapes for both red and white are de-stemmed. Red grapes are fermented in cement tanks, and whites in large old oak barrels. Production levels are miniscule, at only 2,000 bottles of white and 4,000 bottles of red wine.
