Tenute Ballasanti

Tenute Ballasanti is a unique wine estate in Sicily, perched on the slopes of Mount Etna, where Manuela Seminara returns to her family’s land on the hillside facing the dawn over the sea. Here, alongside Fabio Gualandris, she channels their perfect harmony and shared love for the land into the beating heart of the winery. This synergy gives birth to straight, explosive wines of pure excellence: through every sip, Manuela aims to revive the power of “A muntagna”—Mount Etna itself—and an absolute respect for nature and its rhythms. For her, feeling and understanding the land is grasping the very essence of life.

Everything at Tenute Ballasanti tells an ancient yet living story: the paths winding through the vineyards, the dry-stone wall built by Don Lorenzo, her great-grandfather, and the two maritime pines that shaded Donna Mara—his wife—on days of the Grecian wind, when she’d say the saints themselves danced in the fierce gusts. There lingers the silent, powerful presence of Don Angelo, her grandfather, whose labour and example root the emotional ties of Manuela and then Fabio. Their love for this land drove them to restore the ancient estate, breathing new life into its timeless beauty.

Today, Tenute Ballasanti grows and renews itself while bearing witness to a singular territory—mountainous yet Mediterranean—ennobled by volcanic eruptions. The terroir, permeable and rich in assimilable potassium yet low in nitrogen and phosphorus, is generous and explosive, in a sense tamed. Amid the vineyards gleam the silver of olive groves, the scent of orchards, and the enchantment of gardens with succulents, bonsai, aromatic herbs, and jasmine. It’s the magic of Sicily resonating in Manuela’s love for her land, taking shape in the relentless pursuit of flavour, beauty, and harmony.