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Welcome to The Connected Table Live.We're your hosts, Melanie Young and David Ransom, your insatiably curious culinary couple.
We travel the world to bring you the stories and destinations, the wine and the food and the hotels and places to visit and stay that you love and want to visit because you, like us, enjoy good food, good wine, good spirits, and a good life.
We're taking you today to probably one of the most desirous destinations when we talk to people when we travel.We're taking you to Sicily, where we recently attended Etna Days, which is a large presentation to preview the new vintage.
We were honored to be media guests.And after the Aetna Day program ended, which was presented by the Consortio Tutela Aetna DOC, which was established in 1968, David and I did a little mini tour of our own.
And we decided to focus on a very specific and fascinating area of Aetna, Doc, because it's a very large area.I mean, we're talking about Mount Aetna, the largest active volcano in Europe.Right, David?Absolutely, Melanie. And it is still active.
So we chose to visit something called Etna North, North Etna, and the Quotamile, which is a 100-meter road that goes east to west in Etna North.
1,000 meters.It's a road that basically is at 1,000 meters.So it's 3,000 feet above sea level along the side of Mount Etna.
Exactly. I stand corrected.And joining us, joining us from one of the wineries that we visited is Benjamin Franchetti of Passo Pesciaro, which is also a Contrada, as well as the company in Etna North.
And we visited his winery, his family's winery there, Vini Franchetti, and it was really fabulous.And Benjamin is the son of Andrea Franchetti, who is considered one of the pioneers of Etna DOC.So we're going to talk about
his father, we're going to talk about how Benjamin is carrying on the legacy and the amazing wines we tasted.Benjamin Franketti, welcome to The Connected Table Live.
Thank you.Thank you for inviting me to have this talk with you.
Well, we appreciate the hospitality we received when we visited. So we love to start the story and interviews with our esteemed guest with family, because this is about the people who shape the industries that we love.
Talk to us about your father, who we did say is considered a pioneer of the area.Tell us about his background and growing up with him.And we understand you had an American mother.
So he had an American mother. My mother is actually Sicilian from Palermo.My father grew up in Rome from an Italian father and a very American mother who came to Italy
just after the Second World War, and met my grandfather, and she decided to stay in Italy.So, her origins are, you know, very, very, you know, like, sort of northern east side of the US.And
He grew up in Rome, and he initially started working in the wine industry as a distributor.
In his 30s, he moved to New York, where he worked as a distributor of Italian wines in the New York area, before deciding to return to Italy to start making wine, which was his dream, really, was to make great wines. And he started relatively late.
So in his 40s, he initially started by buying an estate in Tuscany, which at the time was actually, it wasn't an estate.There was nothing.
It was just a plot of land in the middle of nowhere in Tuscany, which he planted and transformed it into what is today an estate called the Penuta di Trinoro, which was his first project. and focused on Bordeaux wine varieties.
Then, you know, around 10 years later, in 2000, he was looking to start a new project and he's almost, I would say, pretty much stumbled amongst the Etna, which in the early 2000s was a sort of abandoned, almost abandoned the place.
You know, people have been making wine on the Etna for hundreds of years, and when he got there, the place was was pretty much abandoned.There were all these amazingly cultivated hundred-plus-year-old vines.
Many of those, including the vineyards surrounding the winery which you visited, were not even being picked anymore.And He fell in love with the place, with the energy, and together with other winemakers.
At the same time, they started what became essentially the Etna Revolution.So this is a bit of a short history of how he got to the Etna.
interesting when we visited, we were, we found out that not only were the vineyards abandoned, but they were in complete and utter disrepair.
And there was really a tremendous amount of restoration and reinvigoration of the vines that had to take place before you could even start making wine.
Yeah, I mean, this is something which is quite incredible to think about, that, you know, these were vines, which were
you know, well, first of all, on the one hand, if you think that these lines were 100, are 100 plus years old, and even after being, you know, partly abandoned, they today are still growing, are still, you know, growing amazingly.
And for me, this is sort of the, it's a homage to the amazing work of the of the farmers, the local farmers,
that were really, really great farmers, because ultimately the fact that these vines today are still so healthy, and even after all they went through, it's a proof that the people working the land, the farmers working the land over the multiple generations were really, really great
farmers, first and foremost.What they were probably not as good at was at making what today we recognize as being quality wine.So they really focused on making quantity
And that was the objective, was to make as many kilos as possible and as many hectoliters as possible out of every plant.
And one thing that, you know, my father always said was like to create for two, you know, there's a perfectly inverse relationship between how many kilos a plant makes and the quality of the wine that comes out of it.
What he did really early on when he arrived in this almost barren land was that he started to speak with the farmers and there's this interesting story I got from him.
from locals that he was one of the first days he was there walking through these vineyards with a local farmer.He went to him and said, tell me a vine and a grape you're particularly proud of.
And he was walking there and he just went and took the chunkiest and fattest and juiciest grape which was hanging around. And my father went there and cut it and said, leave it on the ground.And the farmer was shocked.
He was like, why would I leave on the ground my income?And he said, because you don't make quality with quantity.And the juiciest grapes are usually the ones which are probably going to give you the least quality.
So this was really, it's a bit to show
how something, you know, relatively simple but changing the philosophy around winemaking and moving from, you know, doing pure agriculture to doing, you know, bringing in the, you know, bringing in the mind of the human, the mind of the brain of maybe of almost of the artist into the agricultural process and you transform something which is just pure, you know, making as many liters of
grape juice as possible, which was sent to the north of Italy and other regions of Europe to be mixed with other wines, essentially.That was the main purpose of the produce of Etna, into a very high quality product.
And today Etna is, since then, since the early 2000s, we've seen this incredible revolution where more and more winemakers arrived.Interestingly, initially, a lot from outside of Sicily, including my father and other winemakers.
And then slowly, even within Sicily, it became a hotspot for people to experiment making great wines.And this is probably what you tasted only only 20 years later there's this change in, dramatic change in quality.
given the centuries-old history of Italy and Sicily, it's really quite a renaissance to think that this only really happened at the 21st century, this renaissance of Italian wines being made in Sicily.
And as I noted in the beginning, the Etna Dock, which is the specific area that we visited, was established in 1968.Think about how long it took to evolve to get to that revolution, as we call it.This is an interesting area.
First of all, there are challenges, and we would love to discuss some of them, because you're dominated by an active volcano.And the land has been shaped by centuries of lava flow, which is such an important aspect to these wines.
Yeah.I mean, so of course, the volcano is volcano is, you know, it's like this big giant always sitting behind you.
A good giant, because, you know, it's a volcano that the nature of its eruptance are such that it's not, you know, it's not risk, but doesn't pose a risk to the humans.But
it's being so active, the lava flows, although a human being can easily walk away from the lava flows, sadly a vine can't.And so when you probably visited, you saw that there is some occasional highways of
recent volcanic eruptions, primarily the 1980 eruption that essentially went through all the vineyards and, you know, destroyed them.So this is obviously something that is always there.It happens quite rarely, but it can happen.
But it's also, you know, I guess it's the two sides of the coin, because on the other hand,
the fact that this volcano digs from the center of the Earth constantly different materials, different rocks, different substances, and takes it out and throws it onto the surface of the mountain.
It's what in a way makes the Etna so special because what would typically take millions of years of geological evolution of the Etna happens on the course of hundreds or maybe thousands of years.So you find
You know, within, for example, our state, the Paso Ficharo state, is divided.We have, we cover five different contradas, and the highest contradas, like Rampante and Contrada Guardiola, which are close to 1,000 meters, so around 3,000 feet,
have a completely vastly different soil from the Contradas lower down at like 500 meters or 1,500 feet, such as Contrada Chiappe, where the soil is more and more continental, and this huge difference in soil variety
makes the Etna so interesting because it's very unusual to be able to try maybe different contradas, which essentially is the same concept of a cru, so different crus from the same grape variety which have such a vastly different taste.
And I think people really love to be able, are very interested in seeing this difference, the effect that the terroir can have on the taste of the wine, which is what makes wine so interesting, really, to people.
During the days, we had the opportunity to taste a variety of wines from different contrada.And you can taste the difference.And of course, when we visited, your winery, we were taken to the different vineyards.
What is interesting is some of them are very, the height actually exceeds what is allowed in production of Etna dock wines.Your father was a visionary.
And in addition to planting the varieties that are native, he also planted other varieties such as Chardonnay and Petit Verdot.
And what was his thought behind that, given the fact that we're talking about the specialness of the soil?What potential did he see?
Yeah, so I mean, well, so this really comes down to is, you know, you know, I would say that Passo Pesciaro as an estate, as a project, is It's sort of the birth child of his first project, which was Tenuta di Trinoro.
And one has to speak about Tenuta di Trinoro to understand Passo Fischiaro.My father comes from a passion and a tradition of Bordeaux varieties.So for him, the great wines were made in Bordeaux.
And so he planted in Tuscany, in Trinoro, he planted Bordeaux varieties.But the interesting story was that he always had a particular interest in the grape that he was doing.It's a grape he always really liked.
And I don't think it ever really matured as he wanted in Tuscany.So he planted it in Sicily on the Etna and it came out really, really amazingly.And he decided to blend it with a local variety of the Rome region called Chesanese.
And this was really, you know, almost like a game, you know.And so for him, you know, my father wasn't one that really followed rules in general.
So when I would say he was definitely a big influence in the Aetna, I wouldn't say he was particularly an influence of the Aetna Doc.I mean, I don't think he cared particularly much about the DOC.He cared about the
the Etna as a place more than the DOC.So he never really cared that much that the wines he made had to be within the DOC or not.All he wanted to do was always to do great wines.
And if he thought that the great places to do great wines were outside the DOC, then he would plant there, as he did.So half of our estate is not within the DOC. And this has never really been an issue for us.
We noticed that a few estates we visited, what I think stood out with yours is the Petit Prado.I mean, you make literally what we would call a Super Etna wine, the Fini Franchetti, which we tasted a number of the wines, which we'll share with you.
But kind of the last one we tasted, I'm starting backwards, was the Vini Franchetti, which is 70% Petit Bordeaux, 30% Chesanese d'Afile, which is a native grape, as you said, around Rome.
And it was very lovely and dark and concentrated and very special to this area.I'm not sure if it's available in the United States through your importer, which is T. Edwards.It's a terrific wine.
It depends where you are in the US.We have a different importer pretty much in every region.So in the Edwards represents us in much of the East Coast, primarily focused in the New York area.But in California, it's another importer.
So no, absolutely, you can find and the wine is called Franchetti and you can find it in the US, absolutely.And yes, I mean, it's a wine which is so unique and that, you know, there's really, it's unico, there's no other wines like it.
As you said, it's a blend of Petit Verdot and Chiesanese.The blend can vary hugely, so the one you tried had this blend, but some years it's 50-50, some years it's 92% Petit Verdot and 8% Chiesanese, so it really depends on the year.
And I mean, the reason we decided on him, firstly, my father was never a person that liked to give his name or surname to the states.In fact, the two states are her family name anywhere, except for this wine.
And the reason which decided this, because this wine is so different and so in a way special, and that the only way to call it was to give it her family name.
And also because it's in a way a bit a metaphor of, I think, my father, because the fact that there is Pettiverdoso, it it brings back to his Bordeaux heritage and his love for Bordeaux.
The fact that there is Cesanese is the fact that we are a family from Rome.So Cesanese being a Roman grape, this blend made in a unique place like Mount Etna, it's sort of in a way, it's a bit of like a small summary of of him as a person.
And, you know, it's a very, very rare wine.We make only, you know, less than 2,000 bottles a year.
So it's really, you know, it's an exercise and it's something that, you know, if you get your hands on a bottle, I would love to know what you think about it, whomever is listening to this talk.
And it's also a big departure, though, also for Passo Pescato because most of your wines are single varietal and we tasted several.And what we loved is they're all very simply named based on the contrada.So they're very contrada specific.
And so I want to say this area of Aetna is very well known for its red.Some white is produced, and we did taste two whites when we sat down at the winery.But it's very red specific.
Let's explain why that is, because in Etna, to the south and the east, wineries produce red wines, but it tends to be more white-specific, white-dominant.
This area is very special, and a lot of it's because it's Etna North, and the altitude and the Great Diurnal. changes in the weather.
What do you think about, you're an engineer, you have engineering training and you look at this from an interesting perspective as well.You have a PhD actually, Benjamin.
What are your thoughts on this area as such an important red wine area and its position in great red wines of the world?
Well, I mean, I think So I think the north of Etna, yeah, this characteristic, the fact that, you know, it's north-facing, so it's going to inevitably get more of the variation in temperature between day and night.
So that definitely helps to make these reds especially fresh. And then, you know, I think it comes down to the discussion we're having before around the Contradas.The fact that, you know, when there is this sort of matrix of two
huge variables interplaying.On the one hand you have the terroir, which as discussed we have some soils which come from pyroclastic eruptions, so this would be a very sandy soil.
Other eruptions maybe are from more recent eruptions, like the 1600 eruption of Sharanwama, which inevitably will have a higher level of minerality.Or if you're at the lower side of the Edna, as discussed, you get closer to the river and the
the volcanic soil and you start to get a more continental soil and you have this huge variety in soil which, you know, it's very rare to find in other regions.It's such a small surface.On the other hand, the other major variable is in the climate.
It's a volcano, as we said, a volcano in Sicily.It's a mountain, so even though people typically associate Sicily with heat and sun and sea.
And here you need to sort of forget a bit all about this, because you're in a tall volcano, so the climate is almost mountainous.It gets very cold in the winter.
And in addition to that, being a volcano, the slope is very, you know, you have a very high big slope.So you go from a thousand meters, which is our highest vineyards, to where today I will be there with a jumper.
And in the winter, you typically find snow.And in a 15-minute drive, you will be at 500 meters, which is a huge difference in altitude.And all of a sudden, you'll be in a t-shirt.And
So these two sort of variables, which is the soil and the climate, are really, you know, mixing together in vastly different ways.And so this is, in my opinion, really reflects a lot on the on the Nerello Mascalese, which is the local variety.
And this is why, in my opinion, it's so interesting to try the different contradas of the Etna and which are, for me, the heart of the region.It's really to say, OK, what does the climate and the terroir do on this great variety?
Benjamin, that we found as we were tasting through the different contradas that you present was how different they actually were as you went from a lower elevation to a higher elevation, even though they're the same grapes.
The lower elevation was more full-bodied, richer, rounder, and the higher elevation wines from places like Rampante were much more elegant and austere in their presentation.
Fascinating, fascinating dichotomy of flavors and tastes and presentation that came out.
I agree with you, David.I was taken with, and just to visualize for our listeners, the wines that we tasted, they're literally labeled by Contrada.So an example, we tasted Contrada C, which is the lowest Contrada.
That's how they're, they literally identified that. carefully with the sense of place.So we did, Contrada C is the lowest vineyard in the group.And my notes said it's more limestone soil and ash.
And it was from the 19, I love this, the 1911 lava flow.And then we went up to, as David referenced, Contrada R, the Romponte, the highest Contrada, 1,000 meters, which is over 3,200 feet.And I'm not sure what the lava flow was there.
I don't have a date for the lava flow.But they're all dated by lava flow as well.And then we also like the Cherenova.Cherenova means lava flow, actually.
So Chenova means new.Chara means a lava flow.
And that was controlled, yes.
And this would be a 1600 lava flow.So relatively new.Relatively new.But it's considered new in geological terms, of course.
Yeah, 1600.I think the largest lava flow we saw was 1981, and it was huge.
Yeah, so that is very recognizable.But of course, you cannot grow on such a new lava flow.I mean, some do, but I don't advise you to try the wines.
It does take some time for the lava to become plantable. Yes, yes, exactly.
Yeah, I think one of the, there were a couple of wineries around there that had the 1600 Lava Flow that they were producing wine from, and it was just a, it was a beautiful wine.Yeah.Yeah.
Yeah, Charanova has this incredible characteristics.I tend to find it a very a very, it's probably out of all of them, the one that I find most round in a sense, like more complete.It's very elegant, but it has also the right amount of structure.
You know, some would say it's the more maybe considered elegant of the Contradas.Interesting.
I like the Rampante quite a bit.When we tasted it at the days, as we tasted through, and we did it by Contrada, but those are beautiful wines as well.Very concentrated.
Yeah, Rampante has this very, it's very edgy.It's a bit rougher, maybe a bit slightly rougher around the edges, but that is sort of expected for the altitude.
Often you can feel the tannins a bit more, but you know, at the end of the day, the great thing for me about this Contrada is that
it's you know it's there's not really a better or worse one it's about what do you prefer as a drinker and I find that very interesting.
I have for you.And one of one of the things we found out was that when the D.O.C.was created in 1968, they delineated what was within within it and what was outside of it.And some of the contradas actually have land outside the D.O.C.delineation.
So they can't be labeled as Aetna dock wines.As Aetna has evolved, Benjamin, and and expanded in winemaking.Do you know if there are any plans to expand the D.O.C. delineation to include those higher elevation wines?
I am really not the right person to ask for it.
No?No, but I'm saying just because, I mean, these are, you know, I stay out of these discussions.They are not based on, usually, they're not based on rational or reasons.
Mostly, yes.And so, I mean, as I said before, when you said, you know, you started by saying that my father did a lot for the Aetna dock, I would say my father did a lot for the Aetna and removed the dock from that sentence because he never cared.
Of course, you know, it's important.It's very important, I think, to have a dock. I think it's very important to have rules.It's very important to create contradas, very, very clear contradas, that represent different kind of terroirs.
But, you know, as you said, it's based on the 1960s and in the 1960s you know, Etna was a very different place from today.
So, you know, the reason why our Contradas today are not, you don't find the full word, but you'll find Contrada C, Contrada G, Contrada S, instead of Chiappe Maschine, Guardiola, Sciarra Nuova.
is purely based on the fact that some of the controllers are inside the dock and some are outside and if you're outside you cannot give it the full name and so we decided that for the time being we would rather not give the name to anyone rather than to some.
Oh, that's interesting.I thought it was just for pronunciation reasons.So there you go.
No, I think it adds confusion.I would rather, you know, I think it's easier to remember, you know, like if you're in Barbaresco, you have the Barbaresco paian, you don't have the Barbaresco pi.
And I think over time, people start to recognize the specific area within the area.And that's what then starts to create a lot of interest around the different crews.Otherwise, it's never going to be that easy with just a letter, in my opinion.
So Benjamin, you have been leading the company since your father's passing.And we're sorry, your father passed away the same year my mother did.So I know it's very recent.So we're really, I know that's hard.How have you stepped in?
And where are you going with his vision?And are you going to be developing anything new in the future?
My goal, first and foremost, was to make sure that the two estates, because in this case, I have to inevitably speak about the Tuscan estate, Trinoro also, but that the two estates, Passo Pisciaro and Tenuta di Trinoro, would be able to move from estates which were, for very good reasons, associated a lot with their founder, to the next phase,
of their life, which are states which, you know, are from a family, from a family, from a family, you know, descend over generations from a family.
So I like to think of myself as being the first, the first, first generation not being the founder, you know, I don't know if that makes any sense. And my goal is to just put these states on a path for the future generations to come.
I have two daughters.They're still very young, but I already can start to think about maybe one day one of them or both of them will want to work in the States.And so this is really how I'm looking at it.
It's really as a bridge from the founder generation to from the founder to the new generation.So my first goal is really to not do too much to change the soul of this state.
So, having said this, of course, there are some things that I brought to the picture.As you said, I'm an engineer at heart.I still practice engineering on other activities, and so this
This inevitably brings a more precise approach to winemaking and to production in general.
and so I try to bring more of this part into the day-to-day operations of two wineries, which ultimately, one needs to also remember that they're businesses first and foremost.They're not just passion projects as sometimes they can be seen.
They are present for most businesses.Today we hire around 60 people between the two states and they need to be economically functioning.And so this is something where I hope, you know, maybe it's not as romantic, but it's true.
And I try to bring some of my abilities there.And also, I have some taste.I am maybe not always looking at the same level of structure and complexity in all the wines as my father did.
I think some wines, like the Tranchetti wine, some Contradas absolutely need to have the right level of structure and complexity.
But other wines, like the Passo Bianco, which I think you tried, the Chardonnay base, I think that wine is a wonderful wine to enjoy without too much, you know, not, you know, you don't need to have, you don't need to necessarily be thinking of
think of a great Chardonnay on the Etna with its vibrancy, its subtlety, its drinkability.And this is something that me, together with the winemakers, we've been speaking a lot about.
And we've been saying like, hey guys, let's just make a white wine.We really want to drink with a great Pasta alle Vongole.And this is, I think, something that over the years, over the last couple of years, has changed. Yeah.
I like that one.We tasted two wines.We tasted the Paso Bianco, which is a Chardonnay.And it was a really beautiful wine.Very different from the Caracantes that we've been drinking a lot of.So it's kind of a nice welcoming refresher.
And we love Caracantes as well.And then we tasted Contrada PC 2022. I believe, which I don't know.I don't have here what the grape is on that, though.
It's still Chardonnay.So essentially, the idea there is really that we have the main wine, the Paso Bianco.And then over the years, we identified some small parcels, which were outperforming the quality.
And for those parcels, we said, OK, let's try to give it a bit more.Maybe let's try to separate them.Let's try to add a little bit of complexity, a bit of structure.And this is done primarily by leaving fewer grapes on the vine.Easy job.
And then a slight vinification process.The vinification process is slightly different.
It's more and more for the Passo Bianco we use only concrete and this again goes back to the idea of like just as you said you used the word freshness and we want to create freshness with Passo Bianco and Passo Chianche has to be the PC has to be you know maybe a bit more complex
We put it in large oak barrels and then we do a spit, a little bit of maceration.We keep it a year extra in the bottle.You know, all the little things you can do to make the wine a little bit more complex and a little bit more structured.
So it's interesting how the size and the type of oak really, particularly in a white, can really change and add the complexity.It was a beautiful wine.And this is from a smaller vineyard.And then I've in my notes, it's very terrace.
I think we may have visited.Yeah, exactly.
It's from a couple of terraces.It's really from a few terraces.Yeah.
Yeah, we actually did visit it.
Yeah.Yeah.Ah, great.Yeah, because I think we visited like four or five different areas.We did. And from Heidel, it was fascinating.And I think for our listeners, I think it really underscores the diversity.
When you do drive around this area, which we did, we rented a car, and then Letizia, who works with you, took us around, you really understand the elevations and also the slope. how the slopes are impacted and the terraces.
Some are very steep, some are broad.You can see where there's fresh lava flows, fresher, because they're still old, where nothing is growing yet.And you can see where the older lava flows where vines have been developed.
And you think about it, it takes so much time for all this to happen. It's pretty remarkable when you think about this over time and what it was like when your father first decided to take the leap and invest in this area.
And he writes about how gloomy it was and gloomy, but he saw brightness in the future.
Yeah, something he really liked to say was that what for him was so incredible was like,
I mean, I arrived here and it was like, you know, almost how you can imagine, you know, some of the towns in the south of Italy, the sleepy towns where nothing happens, just, you know, slowly, slowly proceeding towards
the inevitable, you know, decay.And 20 years later, there's like, young people sitting in every, you know, on the steps of the churches, drinking wines, and comparing ideas, and Michelin star restaurants opening.Not only fun,
funky wine bars in all this sleepy town, which were just, you know, they were just, it would have been unimaginable 15 years earlier.
And so I think this is just, you know, I think this gave him really a lot of joy when he saw it, you know, bringing, you know, injecting life into an area.
He says, Etna has enormous poetry.There isn't mother nature here.
You're conducting your viticulture on the stuff that comes from the terrible below because it comes from, you know, something that was, you know, lava flows and eruptions can be something terrible, but they can also create something quite beautiful.
in something that, you know, like a they say Phoenix arising from the ashes come these beautiful wines.And your father was a poet and an artist in the way he envisioned the potential of the area.
Yes, absolutely.I mean, I was having a conversation with a friend yesterday and and she She's an artist and she gave me as a present a painting of Bacchus
And we were discussing the way she liked to think of Bacchus was of this being which has this wild side, the wild side maybe of nature.And if you leave nature alone, if you leave, like as a game with my daughter, we planted a vine outside our house.
And I forgot about it.And then I was walking through it one year, two years later, and the vine was all over the place.I mean, it had taken over the trees around.It's just the wildness of a vine.If you leave it alone, it would just go everywhere.
And then, at the same time, it's really, in a way, Bacchus domesticates the wildness of nature and brings in maybe the complexity of the human mind, which ultimately is creating art. out of something so wild.
And this is why I find winemaking so interesting, because at the end of the day, it's really, in a way, a domesticating nature to create something so great as a bottle of wine.
And this is why, in my opinion, and my father in the first place, we need to remember that winemaking is first and foremost a human and the viewer.
And that's why, you know, we need sometimes I feel that especially today, there's a bit an obsession for going back to not saying, you know, traditional way of making wine, natural wines, but wines are, you know, making wine is an artistic and your person foremost, and there's a human that we should not take away the human element from winemaking.
Well, we couldn't agree with you more.
Even though technology and science and engineering are important, at the end of the day, we'd like to underscore that it's the human element, and it's learning how to tame the wild vines and turn them into something very, very beautiful.
Benjamin Franchetti, we've really enjoyed speaking with you today about Pacho Pachado, the wines, your father, your taking over control and one day handing it to your daughters to carry on the legacy.Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you.Thank you very much.
And we want to thank your team who was so hospitable, particularly Letizia Battane, who drove us around, and we sat down, and we just called out of the blue.It was a great experience.And to our listeners, take the time when you go to this area.
This is specifically Etna North in Sicily.Too many go and they try to check off a lot of things on their Sicily bucket list, but it's a very big, as they say, continent versus island.
And we highly suggest savoring it piece by piece to really enjoy the feeling of it and the expression of what truly is Etna, right?
Absolutely.I mean, Sicily is absolutely a continent.So yeah, you are not going to be able to see it all in a week.Oh, definitely not.
Well, we look forward to returning.So we want to thank you again, Benjamin and Kenny.Thank you.And you can find the wines in the United States.
We want to thank all our listeners, encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, explore, and take time to savor the place and what you're eating and drinking.Because we always like to say at the end of every show, stay insatiably curious.
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