Frank Cornelissen

Frank Cornelissen is the owner of 19 hectares of vines on Mount Etna in the communes of Castiglione di Sicilia, Randazzo, Mascali, and Bronte. Uniquely, he has been involved in wine his entire life. As the son of a wine broker in Belgium, he had the opportunity to be immersed in wine on a professional level from a very young age. Frank went on to produce his first wine in 2001 when he started with only 0.40 hectares of vines.

Frank is obsessive over details in an effort to make wines that truly express terroir with perspective. He is a meticulous vineyard worker and keeps an extremely clean and organized cellar, both extremely important considering Frank’s wines are Minimally Manipulated–minimal use of sulfur (sometimes zero sulfur additions in certain vintages), no additives, no temperature control, and no fining or filtering (beyond racking and coarse mesh filtering). He works without the use of herbicides, pesticides, nor any other chemicals. The grapes are certified organic and he occasionally uses biodynamic treatments as well, but not in the ways outlined by biodynamic calendars. He also will abstain from Organic treatments in the vineyard as he feels his vineyards have their own unique schedule. Grape yields are extremely low. 

In the winery his work follows the same philosophy of using what nature provides him. There are no industrial yeasts, sulfites, or anything else added to the wines. All of the wines are fermented in small, neutral tanks and no wood is used in the cellar in order for all the wines to express their specific territory to the full extent. Frank uses neutral epoxy tanks and amphora because he likes the round shape which allows the wines to be nourished with the fine lees moving freely during the aging process.