The first thing you notice about Salvo Foti's new Aeris vineyard in the foothills of Mount Etna is the sponginess of the soil. In parts of the closely planted 15-acre vineyard, where the young carricante grapevines are trained to grow vertically on chestnut posts in the ancient alberello fashion, powdery soil can seem to engulf a shoe pressed too heavily into the earth.
The second thing you notice are the meticulously constructed stone terraces carved from a hillside and the stone-lined drainage ditches, all intended to slow the flow of water and prevent erosion.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/
