EDUARDO TORRES ACOSTA Mt. Etna, Sicily, Italy
Eduardo Torres Acosta learned to make wine in his native Canary Islands, where his father had a small plot of vines at home on Tenerife. In 2012, he moved to Sicily, interned with Arianna Occhipinti in
Vittoria, and then headed northeast to Mt. Etna, where he worked for several years at Passopisciaro. Eduardo gradually broke into the insular Etna environment, gaining access to small parcels of vines to rent and eventually to buy. Many of those vines had been abandoned and have required years of rehabilitation. His first vintage was 2014, produced out of the Occhipinti cellar; he has since built his own cellar on Etna but still opts out of any Etna label designation in favor of the simple IGT Terre Siciliane classification.
The vineyards consist mainly of old mixed plantings of native varieties, white and black together, at high elevations on the cooler north face or versante nord of Etna. Acosta is up to around 4.5 hectares, scattered among a number of different contrade or districts. The soils are variations on volcanic-sandy, rocky or both and rich in various minerals. The vines are largely in alberello, i.e. bush vines, many of them gnarled “old timers” whose care is quite individual and hands-on. Across the board, the yields are naturally quite low and the harvest by hand (no other option!). The farming is entirely organic (not certified).
The cellar work is minimalist as well, in order to most purely reflect the vintages and varieties. Eduardo uses varying proportions of whole clusters, ferments spontaneously with zero temperature control, uses little to no sulfur throughout, ages in concrete and old wood with minimal racking, and bottles without filtration. His wines are high-toned in their aromatics, lifted by an intentional bit of volatility, and the reds lighter in body and brighter in acidity than many of his peers’ wines; there is no “make-up” on these natural beauties.
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