I Custodi
I Custodi
About the winery
I Custodi are the guardians, the custodians of the vineyards of Etna: guarding means preserving the land, maintaining the traditions and respecting the people. From these values and from the love of a beautiful land, where wine was brought by man more than two millennia ago, come the wines of I Custodi, the result of the generosity and minerality of the warm volcanic soil, the cold of the Muntagna and the sun of Sicily.
In 1435 in Catania, in the shadow of Mount Etna, the Guild of the Vigneri was founded. The main purpose of this association of winemakers was to teach the new generations about growing grapes and producing wine around Europe's highest volcano. Nearly six centuries later, Salvo Foti is bringing the association of I Vigneri back to life. Salvo had understood that to make true Etna wine - and not just wine produced on Etna - he could not do without the indigenous men of the Muntagna. Around him, Salvo saw how the old knowledge was in danger of disappearing with an aging generation. Hence the intuition to create a group of men with whom he could revitalize the ancient vineyards on the Volcano, men of all ages - just like the vines they care for - where the older ones could pass on their gestures and wisdom to younger ones. I Custodi is a proud member of I Vigneri.
The Vigneri are able to perform all the work that needs to be done in the vineyards throughout the year, just as it has always been on Etna: they prune, plow, plant and graft, repair the dry stone walls that support the rough lava stone terraces. Every October they are the protagonists of the great harvest festival on the volcano, repeating the same gestures as their predecessors in the early fifteenth century.
Five producers, old vineyards, scattered throughout Sicily - from Etna to Caltagirone to Vittoria. They all rely on the work of the Vigneri, led by Maurizio Pagano and Salvo Foti. The group is based on respect for the land and a common winemaking philosophy: vines in bush form, indigenous grape varieties, protection of the environment and respect for humanity.
Each of the associated producers maintains its identity, but expresses its adherence to the common philosophy by using the Vigneri bottle for their wines, embossed with the symbol of the consortium, the bush that has its roots in 1435.
