Fifty years of Sicilian history
The vineyard, a family tradition FAMILY TRADITION
We grew up surrounded by wine, at home and in the winery. With a father from Marsala, great homeland of modern Sicilian wine-making history, and two grandparents who were winemakers in the Cerasuolo region, our childhood was a period marked out by the frantic pace of the great grape harvests and the slow, patient rhythm of the long wine-making process.
This world, which can be full of simplicity while being utterly captivating, nourishes our family connections. We can still see those consignments of wine leaving our cellars to be transported to other shores, and hear the endless discussions around the vines that continued at home, and with these memories fresh in our minds and nurturing our passion we chose to continue this tradition, to take part in the great renaissance of Sicilian vine growing and wine making, which in recent decades has led our generation of producers to appreciate the richness of this veritable wine continent and bring it to an international market.
Since the ’90s we have transformed Maggio Vini into a contemporary winery, where we grow our vines according to organic farming methods and with ever new investments in research and innovation, while maintaining foremost the splendid aptitude of this region for generating the very finest of wines.
Our vineyards
Frappato, bush-trained now as before, so that every vine and every bunch yields the full potential of its qualities and characteristics as it grows. Nero d’Avola, vertical trellis trained, but tended row by row and handpicked at every harvest, as are the great Sicilian whites, such as Grillo, Insolia, Moscato and Cataratto, which go back hundreds of years. And Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, the international varieties best suited to this terroir.
Much of the work behind Maggio’s wines is done here, in the Pettineo and Villa Maggio vineyards, where the generosity of the soils in the red land of Cerasuolo is complemented by our care and attention.
Organic farming
The vast citrus groves, whose perfumes mark the cycle of the seasons in the Sicilian plains, are here home to the hives housing our bees, who set about their honey-making tasks while we set about our wine making. And in the open fields, tomatoes, coastal princes spreading out below Vittoria, along with herbs – basil, rosemary and mint – growing in the shade of almond, pomegranate and fig trees. Our vineyards grow alongside all these plants and the wild animals that would inhabit these lands if it weren’t for our presence: we are fostering the re-establishment and maintenance of a small natural ecosystem, encapsulating the rich biodiversity of the region that gives life our wines. Organic farming means respect for the land and a naturalness that can also be found in the bottle.
Places to be discovered: our pressing room and winery
There’s no better way to get to know and love a wine than to come and see where it’s made: our vineyards, the winery, the old pressing room that we have restored, preserving the vestiges of the people who have made wine here over the centuries with the same passion as we do today. Several sites can be explored on a Visit, where we welcome wine tourists and wine lovers and explain the history of Maggio Vini and the Cerasuolo di Vittoria lands.
We love to share the stories that are dear to us, such as the story of the settlement around the Pettineo Vineyard, where several families lived in close proximity for decades, giving each other a helping hand in small-scale wine production, sharing a cellar and barrel room, which has now been turned into one of the places where we welcome visitors. And the story of Villa Maggio, centre of the ancient fief of Santa Teresa: the large farmhouse, which bears the date 1697 on its lintels, has always been clustered about by the small houses and wine cellars of the vineyard workers who once tended these fields.
The visits, the tasting techniques, the typical regional dishes the wines compliment, the public grape picking and the events are all occasions to be seized to learn more about Maggio’s wines.