The Anna in Vino di Anna is the wonderful Ms. Anna Martens. Growing up in Australia, Anna spent the better part of a decade cutting her teeth at the Petaluma estate in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills, before uprooting and making her way to Tuscany, landing a winemaking position at the cult Super-Tuscan estate, Tenuta dell’Ornellaia. A chance meeting with Andrea Franchetti led her first to his (certified biodynamic) Tuscan estate Tenuta di Trinoro and then onward to Mount Etna, where Franchetti owns the celebrated Passopisciaro property. It was Franchetti who led her to Etna, but it was Anna who suggested vinifying the single-vineyard sites separately, the beginning of Passopisciaro’s much-lauded contrada wines.

Anna's significant other is Eric Nairoo, founder of UK wine importing business Les Caves de Pyrene. Eric and Anna were so enamored by Etna that they decided to make wine together here starting in 2008. They now own 6 hectares of land high on the north face of Mount Etna, including 2 hectares of 60 to 100-year-old alberello (bush) vines, most of which are Nerello Mascalese, as well as other local varieties like Nerello Cappuccio, Grecianco, and Carricante. The vineyards sit at an altitude of 600-1200 meters, in fertile soils rich in minerals, and are farmed organically. The volcano is in constant eruption, often sprinkling the vineyards with fresh cinders; the climate is extreme to say the least,  making it both an exciting and challenging place to make natural wine.

The Vino di Anna wines are made on Anna and Eric's humble little property without much intervention, using native yeasts and no additives, save for a little SO2 in some lots (often nothing is added at all), with many wines seeing time in their beloved Georgian qvevri, handmade by one of the few remaining artisans still practicing. Lucky for us, we've just received this year's release of Anna's elegant, eccentric, downright electric offerings...Ditch the Pinot this fall for a truly hand-crafted experience of Etna.