Producer Story: Inside the cellar at Cantina Petralia

Drive about an hour and a half south of Palermo, climb the switchbacks into the Madonie mountains, and you’ll find Petralia Sottana — a medieval stone village perched at 1,000 meters. Just outside the walls, the Cardillo family has been farming wine for three generations.

The land

Twelve hectares of high-altitude vineyards on calcareous-clay soils. The cooler nights up here mean the grapes hold their acidity longer than down on the coastal plains — every bottle from Cantina Petralia has that bright, savory backbone you can taste from the first sip.

The cellar

The cellar itself is something else. Carved into the bedrock by Marco’s grandfather in 1947, it stays at a natural 14°C year-round. No air conditioning, no climate control — just stone, time, and a few hundred barrels of slowly evolving wine.

The wine

The flagship is a Nerello Mascalese from forty-year-old vines, foot-pressed for the top lot and aged in neutral chestnut casks. It’s the kind of wine that tastes like the place it came from — wild fennel, sour cherry, woodsmoke, and a long mineral finish.

We carry their full lineup year-round. Drop in and ask Mikey G to pour you a taste of the top cuvée — you’ll see why we keep going back.