Cornelissen - Solicchiata, Etna - Sicilia, Italy
Cornelissen is a singular wine estate on the fabled North Slope of Mount Etna, in Sicily. As much as it is perhaps at first difficult to understand the wines, one is deeply rewarded by efforts made to comprehend these beautiful and completely natural expressions of grape, terroir, and man. The farming philosophy here is based on the acceptance of the fact that man will never be able to understand nature's full complexity and interactions. We will continue in Frank Cornelissen’s (originally from Denmark) own words, as they describe what is happening here and the movement that Frank helped start on the north side of Mt. Etna.
Cornelissen is a singular wine estate on the fabled North Slope of Mount Etna, in Sicily. As much as it is perhaps at first difficult to understand the wines, one is deeply rewarded by efforts made to comprehend these beautiful and completely natural expressions of grape, terroir, and man. The farming philosophy here is based on the acceptance of the fact that man will never be able to understand nature's full complexity and interactions. We will continue in Frank Cornelissen’s (originally from Denmark) own words, as they describe what is happening here and the movement that Frank helped start on the north side of Mt. Etna.
“…Therefore we choose to concentrate on observing and learning the movements of Mother Earth in her various energetic and cosmic passages and prefer to follow her indications as to what to do, instead of deciding ourselves. Consequently this has taken us to avoiding all possible interventions on the land we cultivate, including any treatments, whether chemical, organic, or biodynamic, as these are all a mere reflection of the inability of man to accept nature as she is and will be.”
“The divine ability to understand the 'Whole' was obviously not given to man as we are only a part of this complex and not god himself. Though, evermore man pretends to be god, altering nature's delicate balance, for reasons of productivity, with all due consequences...”
“Our products are the result of this philosophy and our hands, with team. Wines and olive oils which reflect ultimate territorial identity and mineral depth carry the name Magma®. These are single cru and vintage wines and olive oils from various superb terroirs at 650-980 metres altitude in the North Valley of Mount Etna, Sicily. Magma® Rosso is fermented from our best Nerello Mascalese grapes; the golden Magma® Bianco is produced from ancient white varietals. Magma® Olio di Oliva is pressed from perfectly ripe San Benedetto olives.”
“The surface area of our estate is 12 hectares, of which 8.5 are vines in the classic free standing alberello training system (aka Gobelet, or bush-vine). The remainder is olive, fruit and nut trees, and brush. In abandoning monoculture to avoid classic diseases we have inter-planted various local fruit varieties and keep bees to regain a complex ecosystem. The new vineyard (2003-4) was planted without grafts, using the cuttings of our existing pre-phylloxera vines. The training system used is the alberello, at a lower density of vines per hectare than is traditional. This greatly improves ventilation, as well as facilitating cultivation of other plants and species in between the vines, such as buckwheat, rebalancing soils low on organic material without recourse to compost. We avoid soil-moving, and all treatments whatsoever in the vineyard, orchard and surroundings, in which we succeeded even in difficult vintages such as 2004 and 2005. Unfortunately we still had to treat once in 2002 and 2003 with copper sulphate/sulphur mix which was, under the extremely wet circumstances, an unbelievable achievement. If still not good enough.”
“Our grape yields are low, around 300g per vine, realized by pruning very short in the dormant season. Every bunch is then tailored, with tails cut away, and unripe or damaged berries delicately picked out. We harvest quite late, from the end of October to mid November, effected in multiple passes, obtaining perfectly ripe and healthy grapes. We refuse to add any product in every aspect of our (non) winemaking and bottling, thus also avoiding the use of sulfur dioxide. The grapes are transformed in a delicate way, fermented and aged according to ancient traditions in terracotta giarre of 400 litres, buried up to the neck in the cellar in ground volcanic rock. Maceration periods are long, until after malolactic fermentation (up to 7 months and in a vintage like 2003, 14 months), in order not to disturb the complex natural processes of fermentation. The skins, seeds and nascent wine remain un-separated during the entire transformation, maintaining a cosmic link, and enabling extraction of all possible aromas of soil and territory. After basket-pressing maturation continues in terracotta until several full cosmic cycles have passed (e.g. 18 months) before the wine is ready for gentle, slow bottling.”