Marabino Terre Argillose Nero d'Avola

Profile & Story

Azienda Agricola Marabino was founded in 2002 by Pierpaolo Messina at Contrada Buonivini in the Val di Noto, in the south-eastern corner of Sicily, and farms close to thirty hectares of vines on low hills a few kilometres from the Ionian Sea, divided into eighteen parcels by soil type. It has been biodynamic since 2008: preparations 500 and 501, green manure, compost and herbal decoctions, no herbicides and no chemical or synthetic fertilisers, with pesticide treatment limited to low doses of mined sulphur. Marabino once bottled eight separate single-plot Nero d'Avolas from Buonivini; from the 2021 harvest these were simplified into two soil-defined wines, Terre Calcaree from the limestone and Terre Argillose from the clay. Terre Argillose is selected from the best Nero d'Avola parcels, the Don Paolo and Parrino vineyards at 66 to 77 metres on pure yellow clay, trained to spurred cordon and free-standing alberello impupato, spontaneously fermented in steel with a long maceration on the skins and given twenty months in total between steel and bottle, at 13.5% alcohol.