There are now four generations of the Madaudo family involved in the history of Sicilian wine. Even before 1945, when grandfather Al- fio was among the first to believe and invest in the production and marketing of wines made exclusively from autochthonous Sicilian grapes, providing a notable contribution to the development of an oenology still in its infancy. Since then Cantine Madaudo has been listed as one of the most important wineries in Sicily. The company philosophy is based on solid and recognizable values that translate into wines which take into account the biodiversity of the island, the result of vineyards located in different areas all with microcli- matically different characteristics. The company uses grapes grown all over the different geological areas of Sicily (international syrah, merlot and cabernet sauvignon of Western Sicily, the grillo and nero d’Avola grown in the countryside of Monreale (Palermo), the frap- pato and the nero d’Avola cultivated in the province of Ragusa, the DOCG Cerasuolo di Vittoria, the nerello mascalese and Etna doc).

Sustainability, traceability, quality protection and enhancement of the territory: this has been the Madaudo philosophy for almost se- venty years. The sole aim is quality, thanks to the fertile lands of Sicily and the natural features of the vineyards, interpreted and effected in different ways, from steel to wood, from sparkling fermentation in still tanks to refermentation in the bottle with the Champenoise Method, to enhance the multifaceted personality of each grape va- riety. Over the years, the company has invested in human resources, technology, marketing and communication and today its headquar- ters are situated in Villafranca Tirrena, in the province of Messina. The company’s advanced technological plant and equipment allow a production of about 6 thousand bottles per hour and an annual average of 8 million bottles of IGT, DOC, DOCG, sparkling wines and sparkling wines sold trough out Italy and abroad in GDO and in the Ho.Re.Ca.

The Villafranca Tirrena plant, the heart of the company, is flanked by a restaurant entirely dedicated to sparkling wine production in Larderia, a village in Messina. Here the winery focuses on bubbles using two differents methods: the first is the long Charmat Method (180 days in still tanks) to produce the Capovero Grillo Cuvèe Extra Dry (a sparkling wine created by blending grillo grapes from diffe- rent years selected for the aroma and freshness typichal of the gril- lo grape but which acquires significant character and structure ); the second one is Capovero Metodo Classico, a classic method based on Nerello Mascalese Etna vinified in white, in which a limited number of a bottles have added yeasts and are left to mature for more than 36 months.

The Larderia plant is also the reception area of Cantine Madaudo. This large 600 square meters hall is called PalaVerve and was de- signed exclusevely to offer guests the opportunity to witness the bottling and capping phases of sparkling wine to give due impor- tance to the joy of tasting it. As a place of research, experiment and teaching, in conjunction with Antonello Superior Institute of Messi- na and previously with the Faculty of Food Science at the University of Messina, Palaverve encourages the culture of good drinking and good food from the long standing tradition of Messina.