Today Didacus is born, from the first vines which we planted in 1985 on the banks of the Ulmo lake. We dedicate this wine to our founder, Diego Planeta, and it represents the essence of our history.
Other than bearing the memory of a symbol, Didacus expresses for us both elegance and tradition, family and the future; it incorporates our vision of wine and Sicily as we have always dreamt of them.
Beginning with the influence that Diego Planeta had on the changes in Sicilian viticulture, he later gave rise to the origins of our production history. Later we journeyed through Sicily seeking our own interpretations not only through our researches into indigenous vines, including some already forgotten, but also on the suitability of various terroirs for the cultivation of international varieties.
And thus we began. In 1985 we planted the first vineyards round the fort of Ulmo, where the agricultural history of our family had flourished for five centuries. At the beginning they were a palette of shapes and colours, a true laboratory where we began our experiments with microvinification.
On four hectares, right by the lake, we established our first Chardonnay vines; Diego persuaded us to speculate enthusiastically on a different future, that actually had its roots in the instincts of a historic viticulture, up to that of the Orleans, who, with the noble grape varieties from northern Europe cultivated in their island lands, had provided for grand banquets in many European courts.
Four years later, in 1989, with guidance from the great Piedmontese winemaker Carlo Corino – the wizard of Chardonnay in temperate climates – who helped us define the identity of our product, making it our first icon; a fact which today still fills us with satisfaction and joy. It was Chardonnay, above all, which opened the doors to the world, then allowing us to present those wines of which no-one knew and which gradually became part of our plan.
Since then thirty years have passed and those vines in the vineyard on the banks of the lake still remain distinctly visible; Didacus comes from their best bunches of grapes, selected by hand, pressed and sent to ferment in barriques. The first bottles produced – just 6,996 – arrived for the 2014 vintage, which we described as ‘the perfect vintage’ for the climatic conditions in the whole of Sicily and at Menfi in particular.
‘My grandfather Vito used to call me by different names. Usually Diego, Dieguzzo for moments of intimacy, Didacus was for times of my not rare misbehaviour’, Diego always told us. That is why we have given this name to a wine which marks the passage between generations and brings to the future the inheritance of our agricultural tradition, with an approach guided by creativity and by courage, by the impulse to innovate and be open to influence.
Menfi, April 2017
Menfi, aprile 2017
Alessio, Francesca e Santi Planeta
