Monteleone
The protagonists of this project are the three of us: Giulia Monteleone – the first-person narrator -, my father Enrico and my boyfriend Benedetto Alessandro who makes wine for a living.
Ours is not a family business, but simply a family: taking care of the vineyards and producing wine are activities which have transformed our lives so much that any boundary between life and work has been erased ever since.
Our life paths have been very different, nonetheless – through bizarre turns of events – we have eventually met each other and chosen to take part in the wonderful and complex adventure of wine-making.
Our project took shape in July 2017 when, after a long research, we chose an old, two-hectare vineyard near the river Alcantara. We are at the foot of Mount Etna, less than 500 metres above sea level, and 30 metres away from the ancient Cuba di Santa Domenica, a rare and wonderful Byzantine jewel. When we first came here in a hot summer day, a warm wind swept our doubts and uncertainties away immediately: this was the locus amenus we had been looking for, the right place to make our wine. In the following years we have been focusing on expanding our business through new vineyards which would be the basis for new wines. Ours is a story in the making and the best part of it is that the most of it is yet to come.