Grape Harvest Trekking

September 17, 2023
Our excursions in Santo Pietro with Azienda Daino have become a tradition, born several years ago from a shared passion for nature exploration and authentic flavors. We’ve designed this hike together with friends to offer you a truly unique Sunday. Here is how we’ll celebrate the grape harvest: We’ll start our day by walking towards the Torrente Ficuzza in Contrada Renelle, near the Bosco di Santo Pietro, following a truly original route for almost its entire length. We will arrive on foot directly at the winery to take part in the harvest; together, we will crush the grapes and prepare mostarda (a traditional grape must pudding) to enjoy after our meal. Afterwards, a lunch featuring genuine, organic, and locally sourced products awaits us.

Fee: € 45.00 - Includes guide services, accident insurance, excursion organization, and lunch at the Azienda vitivinicola Daino, owned by Gianfranco Daino, a passionate hiker and producer of organic wines. Cancellations will be accepted until Thursday, 14/09/2023. From Friday onwards, any cancellation will still require payment of the participation fee.
For insurance purposes, please kindly send us your full name and tax code (codice fiscale).
Expenses not included: travel fuel costs.
Meeting point: Sunday in Santo Pietro at 09:00 AM at the Bar, Pizzeria, Gelateria “La Pineta”. Click the link below for the Google location.
https://g.page/LaPinetaSantoPietro?share
End of excursion: 05:00 PM in Santo Pietro
Travel: own car
Difficulty: easy
Loop route: approx. 2/3 hours of walking – Forest track, marked trail.
Required equipment: trekking clothing, small backpack, k-way (rain jacket), hiking boots, waterproof jacket, hat, 1.5 liters of water.
N.B. A few days before the excursion, we will send you an email with final details.
Guide: Salvatore Marletta: contact 3334987946 - Email: [email protected]
www.ciaotrekking.com

Some technical details about the winery hosting us for this event:
Located in Caltagirone – a UNESCO World Heritage site, in the heart of Sicily, between the Gela plain and the Catania plain. 9,000 vines per hectare, at 325 meters above sea level, within the Bosco di Santo Pietro, where you can admire majestic, centuries-old cork oaks (Quercus Suber, the namesake of their wine).
The "Maestranza dei Vigneri" was founded in Catania in 1435. It is an association of Etna winemakers whose professional expertise puts the producer-vintner at the center. After 500 years, the reality of Etna and Eastern Sicily brings the experience, research, and technique of "excellence" viticulture to produce wines of recognized quality. Non-invasive tools and systems, respect for tradition wherever possible, and the spirit and pleasure of working well without haste—seeking harmony first with oneself and everything surrounding us—are the hallmarks of the winery we will visit. An organic system of viticulture with respect for the environment.
How the Suber wine is born: the vines are trained using the Alberello (bush-trained) method to offer each plant the right portion of soil and sun. Sunlight reaches all vines equally and with the same intensity, eliminating shading between plants. This three-dimensional spatial arrangement allows the wind and sun to circulate around them.
Manual cultivation phases: - Pruning according to lunar phases, carried out with scissors crafted by local artisans, just like in the old days. Surface roots are removed to encourage the plant to grow deeper.
- "Green pruning" to rebalance the plant's vegetation during the summer and contain its canopy. - The soil is enriched with nutrients through natural and organic fertilization (sheep and horse manure) according to organic farming regulations. - Soil: sandy and Mediterranean soils, intense red color overlying sandy-arenaceous rocks - a breezy, dry climate that gives the grapes rich, complex flavors.