Planeta

The Planeta family's agricultural presence in Sicily traces back through 17 generations to a 1694 wedding dowry that brought the original 'baglia' (stone farmhouse) at Menfi into the family. Modern wine production under the Planeta label began in the 1990s, when Diego Planeta — by then a senior figure in Sicilian agriculture — established the contemporary winery at the Ulmo estate near Menfi. Diego's nephew Alessio Planeta (now the winemaker) trained under Diego and the influential Italian oenologist Giacomo Tachis, the consultant behind the Sassicaia and Tignanello Super-Tuscans.

From the original Menfi base, Planeta has progressively extended across Sicily, recognising that the island contains multiple distinct wine regions rather than a single homogeneous one. Vittoria came next, then Noto in the south-east, Mount Etna's volcanic slopes, and Capo Milazzo on the north-east coast. Each estate works the indigenous variety best suited to that terroir: Nero d'Avola at Noto, Nerello Mascalese on Etna, Cerasuolo di Vittoria's Nero d'Avola-Frappato blend at Vittoria, Carricante (white) on Etna, Grillo and Catarratto at Menfi. Today Diego's children and cousins — Francesca, Alessio and Santi — manage the operation as the seventeenth generation.