Bonavita 2020 Rosso, Faro DOC

Item Number: 18752

UPC: None

Country: Italy
Region: Sicily
Sub Region: Messina
Appellation/AVA: Faro DOC
Estate Grown Wine: Yes
Vintage: 2020
Grape(s): 60% Nerello Mascalese / 30% Nerello Cappuccio / 10% Nocera
Type: Wine - Red
Bottle Size: 750 ml
Pack: 6
Closure: Cork
Alc by Vol(%): 12.5
Viticulture: Practicing Organic
Soil Type: Medium texture characterized by clayey layers and calcareous tuff
Elevation: 250-300 meters
Case Production: 580

Vintage Notes: 2020 was perhaps the best vintage in Faro in the last 4 years. The winter was very warm and not rainy, but in the spring it rained adequately to guarantee a good water reserve for the plants. The summer was breezy and not too hot allowing for excellent ripening with healthy grapes, good polyphenolic ripening and contained sugar concentrations, therefore with very fine and elegant grapes.

Vine Age: 10 to 80 years; the oldest vines are planted in alberello style, the younger are trained in espalier system.

Viticulture: Bonavita practices organic farming. There is no use of chemical fertilizers, no use of herbicides and no use of insecticides. A supply of organic matter through green manure of legumes and grasses is added to promote soil health. Prudent green pruning interventions are used to limit the pesticide treatments carried out at low doses of copper and sulfur to the strictly necessary. Excess bunches are thinned only if necessary.

Winemaking Notes: Grapes are manually harvested in early October. No sulfites or other additions are used. Fermentation occurs spontaneously with native yeast. Maceration on the skins is long, a minimum of 20 days up to 60 days, in stainless steel. The wine ages for 24 months in a mix of large 30-hectoliter oak barrels, cement adn stainless steel. It rests for another year in bottle before release. Please note that Giovanni Scarfone is constantly buying new barrels and vessels for his Faro DOC wine to play with the wine's texture and structure. It is not produced the same way each vintage, and the large oak barrels are rather new to his process.

Tasting Notes: Nerello Mascalese is very tannic and light in color with good acidity; its aromas are spicy and balsamic. It is the variety best suited to aging. Nerello Cappuccio is important in the blend because it is rich in color and sugar with perfumes of ripe fruit. Nocera is an indigenous grape variety cultivated only around Messina with little sugar and pale color but rich in acidity and therefore very important in giving freshness to the wine.