Nicolò Grippald is a name that is only just being introduced to the world of great wines, as is his home province of Enna, in the very center of Sicily. That’s because in the whole province of Enna, there hasn’t been any serious vineyard planting or winemaking since phylloxera eradicated all of the region’s vineyards. And for decades, scrappy subsistence farming, livestock farming, and a lack of general wherewithal has prevented any serious oenological endeavors. But after attending school in Florence, studying literature and philosophy, and falling in love with the complexities of wine and biodynamic farming in Tuscany, Nicolò made the inspired choice to return to his hometown of Gagliano Castelferrato and turn his attention to the abandoned land he inherited from his great grandfather. In 2015, Nicolò planted a modest 2.63 hectares of vineyards on the land where 100 years ago his great grandfather had also planted a small vineyard. In all, he chose to add 1.33 hectares of Nerello Mascalese and 1.30 hectares of Nero d’Avola, with a total of 11 thousand plants. With this first wave of planting, he instantly became a pioneer of wine in his territory, along with convictions of the enormous potential to produce unique, terroir-expressive wines.
Nicolò’s vineyards are 650-700 meters above sea level and enjoy excellent diurnal shifts in temperature. He farms dry—no irrigation and he farms and makes his wines biodynamically-- everything in the vineyard and in the cellar is done in accordance with the lunar calendar. Grippaldi is a one-man show, with the exception of harvest time when he has to hire workers, everything in the vineyard and in the cellar is done by Nicolò. He like to say he prefers to follow every single plant by himself from bud break, to grape to the signing of the bottles with the finished wine. The approach in the cellar is natural and minimalistic, using only the bare minimum amounts of sulfur and relying only on indigenous yeasts for spontaneous fermentations. Nicolò eschews the use of oak and prefers vessels made of concrete and stainless steel for his fermentations and aging.
Nicolò has a bold vison for wine within his native province. His goal is to shine a light on a unique but forgotten terroir, share its natural and historic beauty and establish Enna on the map of the world’s great wine regions.
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