ABBAZIA SAN GIORGIO

Pantellaria, Sicily, Italy

Battista Belvisi has always worked with wine - beginning at a young age, he made passito with his father and grandfather. Unlike most of his contemporaries who fled Pantelleria if they were able to go to university, Battista’s father convinced him to come back to the island to see if he could put his knowledge to work locally. He decided to follow his father’s advice, returning to the island and taking on a number of agrarian jobs. He quickly became entrenched in the island’s celebrated wine industry. Belvisi worked for 3 years as a consultant for Abraxas, an established mid-size (26ha) winery and soon after began a collaboration with Gabrio Bini. He grew grapes for Bini and made the wine of the Seragghia winery for 11 years.

In 2015, after 14 years working for other companies, Battista decided to start his own production and thus was born Abbazia San Giorgio. Battista Belvisi is very focused on producing natural, low intervention wines. He doesn’t have organic or biodynamic certifications by choice, as he does not believe their standards are rigid enough. His farming is however completely organic, he likes to call it “more than organic”, and he uses a range of biodynamics techniques to reveal the best of the terroir and the fruit in his wine.

Imported by Owen Kotler