Cerasuolo di Vittoria is a dry red Italian wine from a region around the comune of Vittoria, Sicily. The only wine with DOCG status in Sicily, it is made from a blend of two Sicilian grape varieties, Nero d'Avola at between 50% and 70%, with Frappato as the remainder. The DOCG rules also include regulation of cropping rates and a minimum alcohol level of 13%. Cerasuolo means "cherry red" and refers to the colour of the resulting blend of these grapes.
Rosario Madaudo's legacy of wine started with a small farm back in 1945, when his great-grandfather began working their first vines in Villafranca Tirrena, a small, coastal commune on the Thyrrenian side of Messina in the northeast corner of Sicily. Today, the young winemaker assists his father, Alfio, and uncle, Andrea, oversee a thriving business that includes 20 hectares on the north slope of Mt. Etna (some 90 km away), 40 hectares in the Agrigento (on the other side of the island), and a hip wine bar devoted to bubbly attached to the winery in their hometown. What impresses Rosario the most is what happened in the years he went away to school in Milano, studying first economics and then getting a masters in food and wine communications. Upon returning home, he was amazed at how his elders had taken a small family business and added an exponential, expanding production far beyond the previous generation. He speaks excitedly both of their accomplishments and of his own desire to bring the business full circle one day by adding a small, single estate to the equation. In the meantime, he remains humble and industrious in the cellar, working alongside his younger brother, Giuseppe, cousins Maria Pia and Cristina, and also his wife Alda, whom he met in school in Milan.
