Italy · Etna

Famiglia Statella

Micro-estate on Etna's north slope: oenologist Calogero Statella and wife Rita farm 1.4 certified organic hectares across two contradi, producing two single-parcel Nerello Mascalese Rossi with distinct characters from the same volcano.

The producer

Calogero Statella has spent his professional life reading Etna's north slope. Since 2008 he has worked as oenologist at Tenuta delle Terre Nere, and Famiglia Statella is what he and his wife Rita built alongside that work: a micro-estate of 1.4 hectares in Castiglione di Sicilia, certified organic, producing around 10,000 bottles a year from two named contradi on the volcano.

The four wines in the range come from parcels Calogero and Rita chose and farm directly. Two contrada-labelled Etna Rosso cuvées form the core: Pettinociarelle, from the estate's founding vineyard, runs toward red cherry, Mediterranean scrub and velvety Nerello Mascalese tannins; Pignatuni Old Vines takes the same grape in a spicier, more balsamic direction, with more grip and weight. The address on each label is also a map coordinate: the contrada name tells you which part of the mountain produced the wine.

Known for

Contrada-labelled Etna Rosso DOC from certified organic Nerello Mascalese on Etna's north slope.

Notable facts

The story

The Contrada That Went Quiet

Pettinociarelle was once counted among the better vine-growing districts on Etna's north slope. After the Second World War the vineyards went quiet. Families pulled out the vines and planted olives instead, and the contrada's wine history thinned out until it was mostly remembered by people who had been there before. Calogero Statella had spent years reading the north slope through his work at Tenuta delle Terre Nere, watching which parcels held their character through different vintages. When he and Rita decided in 2016 to stop working only for other people and start farming for themselves, he chose Pettinociarelle. He bought the vineyard, founded the estate, and made the first Etna Rosso DOC from that contrada in the same calendar year. The name on the label is the name of a district most people had stopped saying.

From the atlas

Famiglia Statella

At A Glance

The Producer

Calogero Statella has spent his professional life inside one of Etna's most serious addresses. Since 2008 he has worked as oenologist at Tenuta delle Terre Nere, the estate that helped reestablish Etna as a wine region worth arguing about. Famiglia Statella is what he and his wife Rita built alongside that work: a micro-estate of 1.4 hectares, certified organic, producing around 10,000 bottles a year from two named contradi on the volcano's north slope.

The estate is based in Castiglione di Sicilia, in the province of Catania, within the Etna DOC appellation. Calogero handles everything himself, listed as both agronomist and winemaker. The four wines in the range come from parcels he and Rita chose and farm directly. There is no bought-in fruit, no blended house style.

Place

Mount Etna rises on the eastern edge of Sicily, and its north slope, facing toward the Alcantara valley and the Strait of Messina, carries a different light and cooler air than the sunnier southern and eastern flanks. Castiglione di Sicilia is the commune that covers much of this territory; the Sollicchiata area within it sits high enough that harvest runs from late September through late October, weeks behind most of lowland Sicily.

The Etna DOC appellation uses contrada names, the old Sicilian district markers, as a way of pointing to origin within the volcano. Pettinociarelle and Pignatuni, the two contradi where Famiglia Statella farms, each appear on the label of a separate Rosso cuvée, so the wine name doubles as a map reference. Buying one bottle tells you where on the mountain the grapes grew.

Soil And Site

Etna's volcanic soils are built from millennia of lava flows and ash deposits, dark and mineral, draining freely and low in organic matter. The estate farms with untilled aisles between vine rows and uses natural fertiliser, allowing the soil surface to remain undisturbed and the vine roots to compete and descend. Certified organic viticulture governs the whole operation. Beyond those confirmed practices, the specific parcel geology and elevation of Pettinociarelle and Pignatuni are not detailed in available sources.

Story

Calogero Statella grew up around wine before he studied it. His father Nino was a chef and sommelier who brought him to the restaurant as a child; the familiarity became a vocation. He trained formally as an oenologist and joined Tenuta delle Terre Nere in 2008, absorbing the rhythms of Etna's north slope across the growing seasons.

By 2016 he and Rita were ready to act on what he had learned. They founded Famiglia Statella, acquired the Pettinociarelle vineyard in the same calendar year, and produced their first Etna Rosso DOC from it. The founding year and the debut vintage are the same: 2016. A second parcel in contrada Pignatuni followed, and the range expanded to four wines. The project stays deliberately small. Two people, 1.4 hectares, a harvest window defined by Etna's altitude.

Vineyards And Cellar

Organic certification governs the vineyard work across both contradi. The aisles between rows are left untilled, which holds soil moisture, supports microbial life, and keeps the vine roots searching downward into volcanic material rather than feeding from surface cultivation. Natural fertiliser replaces synthetic inputs. Harvest runs late, from the end of September into late October, a direct consequence of altitude and north-facing aspect.

Calogero is the sole winemaker. Verified cellar details beyond organic farming are limited in available sources, so no fermentation vessel, ageing duration, or skin-contact period is asserted here.

Wines

The range runs to four wines under the Etna DOC.

The Etna Bianco is made from Carricante, a white grape associated with Etna's eastern slopes though grown here on the north face. The producer describes a golden, straw-like colour; aromas of white peach, apricot, citrus and white flowers; firm acidity and a strong mineral character that the volcanic soil drives through the wine.

The Etna Rosato is an organic rosé in the Etna DOC. The grape variety is not confirmed in available sources.

The two red wines are the estate's main editorial argument. Pettinociarelle Etna Rosso, from the founding vineyard in contrada Pettinociarelle, carries red fruit, Mediterranean scrub and velvety tannins. It reads as Nerello Mascalese in a lighter, fruit-forward key, the tannins present but not coarse. Pignatuni Old Vines Etna Rosso, from the second contrada, is more powerful: spicy and balsamic in character, with more grip and weight. The 2021 vintage was reviewed by Decanter and runs at 14.0% alcohol. Both Rossi are labelled by contrada, single-parcel wines rather than blends.

In The Glass

The Bianco opens with white stone fruit and citrus blossom, the acidity firm enough to hold the mineral thread from start to finish. It is not a fat wine; the volcanic soil pushes toward cut and length rather than weight.

The Pettinociarelle Rosso lifts with red cherry and dried herb, the nose carrying a faint scrub note that registers as landscape as much as grape. In the mouth the tannins are velvety, the acidity carrying the fruit cleanly without sharpness. It is the more approachable of the two Rossi, with a finish that tapers rather than grips.

The Pignatuni takes Nerello Mascalese in a different direction. The spicy and balsamic character gives more presence on entry, the finish longer and more demanding. At 14.0%, it is the fuller wine of the pair, and it wants time or food rather than immediate drinking. The two Rossi together illustrate how differently two parcels on the same volcano can land.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Pignatuni Old Vines Etna Rosso. It is a single-contrada Nerello Mascalese from an old-vine parcel on the north slope, certified organic, and the most independently documented wine in the range. The Decanter review of the 2021 vintage confirms a level of press attention the estate's small production rarely attracts. In the glass it is spicy and balsamic, with firm grip and a finish that stays. It is not a gentle introduction: it is a wine that shows what Etna Nerello can do when the vines are old, the farming is careful, and the parcel has a character worth naming on the label.

Anecdote

Pettinociarelle was once counted among the better vine-growing districts on Etna's north slope. After the Second World War the vineyards went quiet. Families pulled out the vines and planted olives instead, and the contrada's wine history thinned out until it was mostly remembered by people who had been there before. Calogero Statella had spent years reading the north slope through his work at Tenuta delle Terre Nere, watching which parcels held their character through different vintages. When he and Rita decided in 2016 to stop working only for other people and start farming for themselves, he chose Pettinociarelle. He bought the vineyard, founded the estate, and made the first Etna Rosso DOC from that contrada in the same calendar year. The name on the label is the name of a district most people had stopped saying.

Final Word

Famiglia Statella is Calogero and Rita Statella, 1.4 hectares of certified organic vineyard on the north slope of Etna, and four wines that come directly from what they planted and farmed. The two cru Rossi are the core of the range: two contradi, two distinct registers of Nerello Mascalese, labelled by address rather than blended away. The estate is genuinely small, and the bottles are not easy to find. That is part of the argument for looking.

Sources

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