Aeris: The Taste of Sicily's Etna Region Comes to Healdsburg

An Italian immigrant of a different flavor is the latest Italian arrival in Sonoma soils.

While the northern Italians swarmed into Dry Creek and settled it, growing Zinfandel, who can name a Sicilian who grew grapes way back when in Sonoma? Or even today?

Up in Mendocino one brave soul, John Chiarito, whose family hails from southern Italy, was the first to plant climate appropriate varieties popular in Sicily–Nero d'Avola and Negroamaro. (Those vines have been taken over by Martha Stoumen these days.) I was fortunate to have them in Siracusa at one of the city's finest restaurants–Don Camillo (oops, it looks like I forgot to blog about that meal or post photo of moi and Don but here it is!)

Enjoying the tasting menu at Don Camillo's
restaurant in Siracusa where John Chiarito's
 Nero d'Avola was (and still is) on the wine list

                                

So it's stretching the spectrum to see Aeris take flight. Far from the lowland heat of the Nero (black) grapes grown in southern Sicily, Aeris is all about altitude. The word literally means a fresh breeze. The Aeris vineyard site on Centennial Mountain is about 2,500 feet, roughly the same elevation as its reference point in Sicily–Mount Etna, the volcano in Sicily that's become a mecca for wine lovers and somms. 

The Aeris vineyard on Centennial Mountain
is at 2,500 feet of elevation (with coastal influences)

Centennial Mountain is not volcanic, but it is playing Mama to baby vines planted with material from Etna –specifically the true white Carricante, an indigenous grape that is dying out in its homeland, with only 25 acres still planted, according to preservationist, vigneron and winemaker Salvo Foti who Rhys, the parent company of Aeris, has partnered with. Rhys sources from both its Sicilian site, purchased with Foti's help, and its Sonoma site.

Salvo Foti, Carricante's savior

The new Aeris tasting room in downtown Healdsburg just opened this winter–what a treat–and showcases Aeris' Carricante, the star attraction. (It's also a great opportunity to sample Rhys Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and sparkling wine which come from the Santa Cruz Mountains and Northern California climes). (The Aeris wines are not organically certified, but they are organically farmed).

I stopped by the other day after lunch with some friends and was fortunate enough to be hosted by Chilean born Javier Tapia, Rhys CFO and Vineyard Manager (a unique set of job titles if ever there was one). 

Aeries and Rhys viticulturist and CFO Javier Tapia flies
from vineyard to vineyard in a Cessna 182

Surprise - Javier has a super impressive background in biodynamics, working with the pioneering biodynamic wunderkind Alan York (no longer with us) in 1996 and then worked as viticulturist, winemaker and CFO for Jim Fetzer at the Demeter certified biodynamic Ceago wine on Clear Lake until Fetzer retired. He then went to Rhys where the predominant varieties are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. It all adds up to another truly international story–part of the magic of wine in America. (I like to think of us as the United Nations of wine.)

Born into a family in Santiago, both of Tapia's grandfathers were in the wine business. He went to viticulture school in Santiago–where he also attended business school and received his degree in business in addition to viticulture. He worked in Chile for 6 years before coming to the US.

Carricante's name means "gigantic" or "yields a lot," but Tapia says the grape is managed for low yields to enhance wine quality.

Says Tapia, "You can get from 3,000 to 30,000 per acre with this grape, so it took a lot of work to get the balance right. You don't want to overcrop it so you can really have the expression of the wine."

Tapia and owner Kevin Harvey (who made his money in Silicon Valley at venture capital firm Benchmark) haven't stopped with Italian whites, though, planting Nerello Mascalese (another southern Italian variety) and the challenging Nebbiolo, which has defeated many attempts to grow it well in California. (Traditionally planted on steep slopes, high up in Piedmonte, it loves morning fog.) It's better known as the grape in Barolo and Barbaresco. 

Harvey is a meticulous student of climate and vineyards and is giving it his team's best shot. A Burgundy freak, Harvey is also fond of great Nebbiolos, which, at their best, have the same ethereal, transparent, finesse.

Visitors can try both the Sonoma grown Carricante and the 2017 Sicilian Carricante (Etna Bianco Superiore). These are wines that our finer wine writers (Eric Asimov and Esther Mobley) are raving about. I am, too, even though my tasting notes seem to have blown away with the wind. Which makes no difference. The Etna Bianco Superiore is a great wine and it makes a lasting, wordless impression. Sometimes that is the best kind.