Serra Ferdinandea is the first Sicily-France joint venture, with Planeta and Oddo

Wine can tell business stories that go beyond wine. They are stories that tell of the desire not to stop in the valorization of the territory, even though they have already been protagonists of the rebirth and consecration of their land. They are stories that tell of the desire to always look ahead, opening up to the comparison with other visions, which sometimes leads to true exceptional collaborations, linked by a common propensity to imagine a new future anchored to a great past. Like the story, extraordinary and peculiar, of Serra Ferdinandea, a new winery that was born in Sicily, between Sciacca and Sambuca di Sicilia, from the joint venture between Planeta, one of the great wine families that marked the wine renaissance of the island, with strong roots in all the most important territories, such as Menfi, Vittoria, Noto, Etna and Capo Milazzo, and Oddo, French family protagonist of an international project of the highest profile: founding, alone or together with important local partners, new wineries devoted to excellence. Started by Lorraine Oddo - with the invaluable collaboration of a great professional like Bertrand Otto who piloted Edmond de Rothschild’s winemaking activities for 25 years - this project got off to a quick start, and there are already five companies: in France Domaine du Vallon des Glauges and Tible, in Côtes de Provence, an ambitious project in Sancerre with an exceptional partner like Pascal Jolivet, Taaibosch and Pink Valley in South Africa. And now, the new adventure with Planeta, in Serra Ferdinandea in Sicily, a story that also represents one of the very first investments from abroad in Sicilian wine, an aspect that further enhances the great growth of the wines of the Sicilian “wine continent” worldwide. And on the other hand, for Planeta, one of the challenges is "to be a spokesman for Sicily, which is once again attracting entrepreneurs and projects of international scope". The wines, based on Sicilian varieties such as Nero d’Avola and Grillo, and French varieties such as Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc, will be distributed, an absolute novelty for a Sicilian reality, by a Bordeaux shop, Diva, one of the most important names of the “Place du Bordeaux”. A dedicated winery will be created, and the first bottles of white, rosé and red will see the light in March 2021, from grapes of the 2019 harvest. We are talking about a company born with an investment of 3 million euros, for 100 hectares of total extension, of which 40 of vineyards (10 already planted and 30 that will be in the next 2 years), conducted with particular attention to sustainability, and 60 of Mediterranean scrub, for a production that, when fully operational, will be of 200,000 bottles.
The aim shared by the Oddo family and the Planeta family is as simple as it is ambitious: an equal partnership to create - in Sicily - a winery of excellence, and make it compete in the arena of great wines from the old and new world, sharing agricultural, enological and distribution experiences. A project that is both territorial and transnational at the same time, which draws the best from both approaches, overcoming critical issues and enhancing synergies.
At the head of the Sicilian project will be Lorraine Oddo on the one hand, and Alessio Planeta on the other, who will bring his thirty years of assiduous work on the territory. All this with the advice and great experience of Florent Dumeau, a Bordeaux enologist who has been following both Planeta and all the companies of the French group for years.
After a reconnaissance as accurate as rapid - decisive was the deep knowledge of the Sicilian territory developed by Planeta - the choice fell on a plot of wine land of rare beauty, at 450 m above sea level. in the territory between Sciacca and Sambuca di Sicilia, a short distance from the sea of the Strait of Sicily and Monte Kronio (Sciacca) - where it has been made what is probably the oldest discovery of wine in the whole West, dated 6,000 years ago - and from the Phoenician rock millstone called “della Risinata” (Sambuca di Sicilia). A place where the vine has roots that are among the oldest in the whole Mediterranean, if not the oldest ever, as evidenced by these archaeological finds.
An area where the hilly landscape changes and becomes almost mountainous, in an alternation of clearings and rocky ridges. Turning towards midday, in the same direction as Pantelleria, you can glimpse the strip of sea where the legendary Isola Ferdinandea, of volcanic origin, literally emerged from an eruption in 1831: hence the name of the winery - Serra Ferdinandea - which sums up both the more strictly physical characteristics of the place and the more intimate and almost metaphysical aspirations of this entrepreneurial challenge. The ground beneath your feet and the horizon before your eyes. The island disputed between different nations but never belonged to any, “Insula in mari nata”, which came to light from a chain of underwater volcanoes extending over the Strait of Sicily, which has inspired - among others - writers such as Verne, Pirandello and Camilleri. “A utopia that sometimes - due to the whim of nature or the will of man - can contradict its own name and take place. Land and sea have united, as have Sicily and France. And Serra Ferdinandea was born: the story of the New Island”, Oddo and Planeta comment with a single voice.