Notes:

After a lifetime as wine enthusiasts, Luca Caruso and Natascia Santandrea embarked on a project to make wine together on Salina, a remote Aeolian island off the northern coast of mainland Sicily. Neither name is new to the wine world; both Caruso and Santandrea have curated impressive wine lists for their respective restaurants: Luca at his family’s Michelin-starred hotel, “Signum”, on Salina, and Natascia at the now shuttered “La Tenda Rossa” in central Tuscany. In the throws of the pandemic in 2020, the couple (in life and in work) put their energy into something that they could call their own: making wine on Luca’s native Salina, a place he knows so well he could drive the roads with his eyes closed. 7.5 hectares and two white wines later, the concept is based on zoning; working in single parcels, harvesting and vinifying everything separately. Eolia is as much an homage to the energy, nature and profound amore for the island as it is an ode to the most recurring element of this couple’s relationship: vino buono.

The seven Eolian islands have a unique story and place in Mediterranean history. Colonized by the Greeks around 580 BC, they were believed to be the home of the Greek God of wind, Eolo. Salina is the greenest and most agriculturally rooted of the seven sister islands; a place where the sea and the island’s extinct twin volcanoes are equal protagonists. The cultivation of wine on the island has extended over centuries thanks to the geographic position, influence of the sea, unique sun exposition and legendary winds that sweep over the landscape. Eolia’s vineyards lie in two predominant areas of Salina: at sea level, near the town of Malfa, and in Valdichiesa - quickly becoming the most lauded area to source fruit on the island due to its elevated position between Salina’s two volcanic peaks, Monte delle Felci and Monte dei Porri, at nearly 400 m in altitude. Soils are of volcanic origin, rich with nutrients, and vineyards are traditionally terraced. The island is also known for the cultivation of DOP capers, which are known throughout the world.