Ballasanti:
The Return and the Turning point
The Return of Manuela Seminara to her family’s land in San Giovanni Montebello on the slopes of Etna, overlooking the sunrise over the sea, where she was born and raised.
A Turning Point, too.
Her husband Fabio, with an eye to the future, uniting the various properties and, together with Manuela, bringing life to a new agricultural business, planning ten vintages, new vineyards and the design and creation of a new cellar.
The Return and the Turning Point, a loving synergy committed to producing vivid and explosive wines, like thunder bursting forth from the Earth.
The HIstory
The winemaking business was started by Manuela’s maternal great-grandfather, Don Lorenzo, and his wife Donna Mara.
Don Lorenzo also planted two maritime pines to commemorate the birth of his children.
They provided shade for Donna Mara when, on days when the Gregale was blowing, she would say that even the saints were dancing, the wind was blowing so hard.
In those days, as was the norm, Don Lorenzo’s wine was sold on the French market.
It was however Don Angelo, their son, who diversified the business:
citrus fruits, olives, figs, prickly pears, strawberry trees, chestnuts, pomegranates and quinces. Even a maple forest. And grapes, of course, wine grapes (Nerello Mascalese and Carricante) which he sold to his most valued clients.
It was he who, by example, fixed Manuela’s emotional and cultural roots into the slopes of the volcano. In turn, her example has had the same effect on Fabio, who has chosen this land as his own.
Ten years ago, the Turning Point. Fabio, with the proven managerial acumen of someone who is forward-thinking, understands that the time has come to make a decision.
Fabio decides to reunify the original winery to bring Manuela’s dream to life. Their adventure begins, they hire staff and invest in new land, always on the volcano’s eastern slopes, from where they can watch the sun rise over the sea.
Thus the first wines curated by Manuela are brought to life once more,
the vineyards are expanding, new ones are being acquired with traditional Nerello Mascalese sapling vines.
Today the property consists of approximately 25 hectares, of which 7.5 are planted with Nerello Mascalese and Carricante, grapes over three locations producing
five labels, of which two are CRU.
The Return and the Turning Point,
Manuela and Fabio are already planning their new cellar in Piedimonte, which will also be on the slopes overlooking the rising sun.