Hallgarten boosts Italian portfolio

Hallgarten Druitt & Novum has boosted its Italian range with the addition of wines from Sicily and Etna.

La Nave vineyard at sunrise

The specialist wine importer has signed on leading Sicilian organic winery, Colomba Bianca, as well as boutique winery Santa Maria La Nave, in Etna.

Hallgarten’s head of buying Steve Daniel said the group had wanted to extend its range of Southern Italian wines, particularly from Sicily, in order to provide a greater choice of wine at different price points. He is working with Sicilian producer Colomba Bianca’s to put together the blends for the UK market, noting that it was the winery’s commitment to quality and their practice of harvesting individual batches of wine that appealed to him.

It has added twelve wines from Colomba Bianca across three different price points – three in its Gazzera range (RRP £7.99), five from its ‘Vitese’ (RRP £8.99) and four from its Kore range (RRP £10.99).

Colomba Bianca is one of Sicily’s largest wine cooperatives and Italy’s biggest organic wine producer, and currently has around 1,000 hectares of organic vineyards with a further 1,000 hectares being converted.

The importer has also added boutique producer Santa Maria La Nave to its portfolio, which produces around 6,000 bottles each year, depending on volcanic activity.

Situated on the north western slopes of Etna, the vineyard is one of the highest in Europe and the naturally high levels of sulphur in the soil – the result of years of volcanic ash from eruptions – means wines are preserved naturally and the winery does not add any sulphur to its wines.

Two wines will be added, Millesulmare Sicilia DOC Bianco 2014 and Calmarossa Etna DOC Rosso 2014 (RRP £33.99).

“Etna offers sommeliers and independent merchants something truly exciting and a real talking point and we were delighted to be approached by one of the very best producers in the area,” Daniel said.