Vino di Anna Vendredi 13 is a one off cuvée made from the 2021 vintage. The mostly red grapes destined to regular wines Jeudi 15 Rosso and Rosato as well as Palmento were blended together to make an amazingly fresh and lively red. Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Capuccio and some white grapes, including Carricante. The result is a joyfully aromatic red that hints at seriousness, yet majors in red fruits and drinkability with a few herbal twists and mineral crunches for fun. The beautiful label is signed by Michel Tolmer.
Vendredi 13 in Anna Martens words: "During the autumn of 2021, Nature decided to take its own path in the winery and led us to create a new cuvee in memory of the year that had been; “Vendredi 13” Rosso. This cuvee is a blend of wines that usually would have been destined for our Palmento and Jeudi Rosato/Rosso labels. Each individual component in 2021 was not true to style but when blended together we found we were able to produce a balanced, energetic wine, full of fruit with the trademark minerality of grapes grown at high altitude on volcanic soils."
VINO DI ANNA, Anna Martens and Eric Narioo, Etna
Anna Martens trained with Brian Croser for eight years and also worked with Ornellaia and Passopisciaro. She settled in Sicily with husband Eric Narioo of Les Caves de Pyrene, UK importers, where they purchased a small winery and surrounding vineyards in 2008.
The rest of the story is told by Jamie Goode: 'They now own 2 hectares of old alberello (bush) vines, most of which are Nerello Mascalese, but also including other varieties such as Nerello Cappuccio, Grecianco and Carricante. The vineyards are at altitude (760-900metres) and are farmed organically.
The Vino di Anna wines are made on their small property without much intervention, using native yeasts and no additives, save for a little SO2 in some lots (normally nothing is added at all). A variety of vessels are used for fermentation, including Palmento, old barrels and a Georgian qvevri.
‘Anna Martens and her Etna wines are one of the most exciting discoveries I have made this year. I met Anna years ago when she had just left a cellar job at Tenuta dell’Ornellaia on the Tuscan coast and had a vague memory of her moving to Etna to work with Andrea Franchetti. But I didn’t know until recently that this petite Australian had started her own wine brand on the volcano. She runs a small vineyard with her husband Eric Narioo on the north face of Etna. Many of her head-trained vines reach 100 years of age and are planted up to 900 meters above sea level. She adopts a non-interventionists- philosophy with natural yeast, no fining or filtering, and little or no SO2. Her most exciting wine, Qvevri, is made in 2,000 liter Georgian clay vessels.’ Monica Larner