A Visit From The Great Ciro Biondi
Michele Boscia
Ciro Biondi’s legacy as both a winemaker and star in the Oliver McCrum portfolio cannot be overstated.
Not only was he the first Sicilian producer we began working with roughly 20 years ago, Ciro’s wines have helped drive awareness of the Etna DOC across the U.S. and around the world.
As Eric Asimov noted in the New York Times back in 2012, Ciro Biondi isn’t part of the new wave of winemakers coming out of Sicily. His family has been making wine on Etna since the early 1800s, long before the DOC was even established in 1968, and decades before most modern wine drinkers could point to the region on a map. Family records show bottles of Biondi wine were sold more than a century ago.
While Ciro’s modernization of the family business began in 1999, when he and his wife, Stef, restored six hectares of his family’s vineyards and built a small winery, his Sicilian roots run deep. Since then, the two have put everything they have into making some of the best wines in the region, winning over critics and somms around the world, and making endless friends and fans in the process.
But it wasn’t always a foregone conclusion. Ciro’s grandfather was the most recent Biondi to produce and bottle wine from the family vineyards and his financial struggles coupled with backbreaking work were not lost on his son, Ciro’s father. He ultimately decided to pursue a career with the Italian government and he mandated that Ciro also go the professional route (he has a degree in architecture; some of his works were published in art and design magazines).
However the lure of the vines and the land was too strong and Ciro ultimately made his way back to Etna and began the rehabilitation of the family land and winery (an old palmetto, the historic winemaking facility).
When we received the news that Ciro would be taking a step back from sales trips and spending more time at the winery, we knew that it might be the last time we see him in California for quite a while! Over the past two weeks, across the state as well as in New York, Ciro has been the toast of dinners, tastings, receptions, and get-togethers among friends and colleagues who gathered to celebrate his legacy. Countless well wishers turned out on both coasts to taste the once in a lifetime bottling, Centenario (translation ‘centennial’; a tribute to his grandfather) as well as new vintages of the crus San Nicolo, Cisterna Fuori and Pianta and current releases of the stunning Outis Bianco and Rosso. Per usual, Ciro didn’t disappoint (and neither did the wines!).
While Ciro may not be hitting the road in the near future, we’ll see him again on our next trip to Sicily, and we look forward to enjoying the wines now and for years to come!