Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/348953
{ SOMMjournal.com } 7 Though not trained in enology, Francesca brought her brand sense into the mix. She created new labeling and messaging, repackaging not only the Planeta brand, but also Sicilian wines in general. "I started here with no money and tools. Creativity was much more important than the business itself. I had to think of everything myself," she recalls. She knew she needed unique positioning, and considering the locations of the six Planeta estates, she created a messaging that spoke to the diversity of the island. Our project has been to discover different terroirs. You never can generalize about Sicily. You get different styles and charac - ters as you go from Mount Etna to the sea," she says. "We don't talk any more about the variety; we talk about the areas and those characteristics that give an identity to the wine." Planeta winemaker Patricia Tóth, a Hungarian-born enologist, was making wine in Fruili—contentedly, until her former cellar master advised her to go to Sicily. "It looked so far . . . over the sea, and much more exotic," she says. "I took my luggage in 2005 for one harvest and I forgot to go back." She says other young winemakers like herself have put Sicily on the map in the past 20 years and "now is the right moment for sophistication and getting to the details and the richness of the region." Export Manager Penny Murray, who has been with Planeta since 2002, says the education about Sicilian wines is an ongoing project. "It's still a battle to get people to understand Sicily—some regions are not well known," she says. "A lot of people look to Sicily as hot and wild and they don't realize how diverse it is. The wines are aromatic, bright with good acidity." The six estates produce 2.2 million bottles per year, sold in 70 countries. The United States is the largest market, with the dis - tribution focused in California, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York and Texas. Murray makes about six trips a year to the U.S., noting, "It really makes a difference when you explain per- son by person what Sicily is about." People tend to know Etna and Nero d'Avola, but the lesser- known appellations are a hand-sell. Planeta hopes to put them on the map with unique wines focused on indigenous varieties. From the Dorilli Winery in Vittoria, Sicily's premier region, with only 34 producers, a soft, supple blend of Nero d'Avola and Frappato found big success when Murray sampled it by the glass and positioned it as Sicily's answer to Pinot Noir. "It's a wine that people love, but its success is very much by trial," Murray says. She hopes to replicate that with Moscato Bianco from the Buonivini Winery in Noto. The super-dry white bears no resemblance to its sweeter cousins produced elsewhere, overturning assumptions not only about the variety, but how a warm-climate appellation can produce a crisp and fresh white. Francesca cites Chardonnay as another Sicilian sleeper. "This wine has become the image of the changes in Sicilian wine. After a long journey full of surprises and successes, Planeta Chardonnay is today an icon for the whole of Sicily," she says. "The vines that produce it are unique in their location and terroir, and with cal - culated, careful fermentation and maturation in French wood, we have produced a wine unique in its grace and power." "I hope in ten years' time, we're not going to talk about Nero d'Avola as a variety but we'll be more precise on the area," Francesca says, adding it is her hope that people will ask not for a wine from Sicily, but from Noto or Menfi. "It's going to be the future of Sicily: not to have one idea of Sicilian wine, but to have many different areas that are going to be known." PHOTO COURTESY OF PLANETA PHOTO COURTESY OF PLANETA PHOTO COURTESY OF PLANETA An Island Dynasty Planeta's six estate wineries represent every corner of Sicily and offer a cross-section of Sicilian wine. Sambuca di Sicilia (Agrigento) 93 hectares (230 acres); acquired in 1995 (the original Planeta); vineyards since 1985 wines: Alastro, Plumbago, Chardonnay, Sito dell'Ulmo Merlot, Maroccoli Syrah varieties: Grecanico, Nero d'Avola, Merlot, Chardonnay, Viognier, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot Dispensa Winery, Menfi (Agrigento) 158 hectares (390 acres); two wineries acquired in 2001 and 2005; vineyards since 1996 wines: La Segreta Bianco, La Segreta Rosso, Rosè, Cometa, Burdese varieties: nNro d'Avola, Grecanico, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Fiano, Chardonnay, Merlot, Viognier Dorilli Winery, Vittoria (Ragusa) 34 hectares (84 acres); acquired 2001; vineyards since 1997 wines: Frappato, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Dorilli Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico varieties: Nero d'Avola, Frappato Buonivini Winery, Noto (Siracusa) 51 hectares (126 acres); acquired 2003; vineyards since 1998 wines: Santa Cecilia, Passito di Noto, Moscato di Noto varieties: Nero d'Avola, Moscato di Noto, Merlot, Syrah Feudo di Mezzo Winery, Castiglione di Sicilia (Catania) 26 hectares (24 acres); acquired 2012; vineyards since 2008 wines: Brut, Etna Bianco, Etna Rosso, Eruzione 1614 Carricante, Eruzione 1614 Nerello Mascalese varieties: Carricante, Nerello Mascalese, Riesling, Pinot Nero La Baronia, Capo Milazzo (Messina) 8 hectares (20 acres); vineyards since 2011 site of experimental ancient varieties; 20 hectares of olive trees varieties: Nocera, Nero d'Avola Planeta produces a Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Sicily's only DOCG, at the Dorilli Winery in Vittoria.