Vini Felici

Wine: Felix, studied oenologist, is making the wine and does the work in the cellar; decisions that come along with the winemaking: Harvest time, Winemaking process until bottling and co. Vineyard: Nicola and Giuseppe work on the vineyards. They are local farmers and also work on their own fields. Daria is talking care of social media and most of the communication. Family & Friends are helping when it comes to work peaks. (Like harvesting, bottling, labeling etc. ).
I was always interested in Farming & Winemaking. Partly growing up on the small island of Pantelleria, I was always surrounded by the wine and vines. 

The first time I got in contact with winemaking was through an old friend of my family who had a traditional vineyard. From him I learned very early the difference between quantity and quality in winemaking since he had established a very small vineyard producing one of the best Wines nearby. Later I finally learnt winemaking from the beginning and also studied Viticulture and Oenology in Germany and Italy. I have been working and learning on a lot of different vineyards, for example at Ampeleia or Hochkirch Wines. 

Pantelleria is a little volcanic Island between Sicily and Tunis. It belongs to Sicily, even its nearer to Tunis and geographically on the African continent. That’s why you find a special mix of culture, with a lot of Arabic influence.

Pantelleria seems like a small paradise. Due to the volcanic ground, you can find hot springs, natural saunas and even a sulphur lake.

It is said that Pantelleria comes from the Arabic word “Bint al- aryāh” which means “daughter of the winds”, as this island is quite windy.
The climate is subtropical and largely semi-arid. The summers are hot and dry, but always a bit windy, which cools down everything.

-       Rainfall of around 300-500 millimeters per year, but soil cannot hold much water

-       The predominantly volcanic rubble, in places also slightly loamy-sandy soils are not very deep due to the constant wind erosion, but are very well suited for viticulture.

I grew up in a family of archeologists, meaning that we have been moving places and countries a lot. I was born in Athens, and grew up in three different towns of Germany. Since my early childhood, my parents started an archeological project (excavation of the the punic wars) on the island of Pantelleria, so we spent ever summer there. It quickly became a second home for me and my family. Spending time on the Island, I was always attracted to the old terraces that form Pantellerias landscape, and the old farmers, making simple wine for themselves and their families. So I did: I just started to do some wine for us, and as more and more people liked it, I always did a little more, that’s how it was and is how we grow slowly.
First of all, all the work is done by hand (as on the little terraces it is not possible to use big machines. The vines are trained as Albarello (little trees and for this its also protected by the UNESCO world heritage on the Island), which grow in little  hollows to collect water and keep them protected from the winds. Plants are not irrigated. As we have a lot of wind (6 days a week) there is not so much spray application affordable, when we do, we use biologcal as sulphur and copper. We don’t do any Tillage, just digging the hollows for the vines and take the weeds out of the vines. Harvesting is of course also done by hand as it is not possible with machines.
Our winemaking approach? Do less and let the juice do the most (;as little as possible as much as necessary).

We just use some S02 before bottling, around 20-40 mg/ L depending on the wine and vintage.

We wanted to make a nice and drinkable wine for everybody to enjoy, a wine for every situation to share with friends and family; but still persevere the typicality of the fruits of the island.