The baby vine had everything it needed in its peaceful, ancient sanctuary protected by surrounding mountains, the highest reaching over 8,200 feet, in an area of the Italian island of Sicily where time has stood still for over 500 years on the Feudo Montoni wine estate.

This baby Nero d’Avola red grape variety, known as Calabrese in this isolated Mediterranean paradise, was created directly from its mother by an old technique called “layering,” which has taken place under the care of the same family since the late 1800s, and the layering technique probably goes back much further than that time.