Marabino, Terre Argillose 2022

Marabino, “land of the beloved sun,” was founded in 2002 by Pierpaolo Messina in the Val di Noto at Sicily’s south-eastern tip. Pierpaolo had spent time in Siena, where he saw biodynamics take hold among Tuscan growers, and returned to his home island determined to put those practices into action. Today the estate stretches over 30 hectares of vines in Pachino, just inland from Noto, split into 18 parcels of limestone and clay soils, never far from the cooling breath of the Ionian Sea.

At Marabino everything is done by hand, and the vineyards are farmed biodynamically. Bush-trained vines sit low to the ground, shielded from Sicily’s fierce sun and benefiting from cooler air that settles close to the soil. Harvest often runs well into October, allowing the grapes to reach full physiological ripeness without losing freshness. In the cellar, fermentations are spontaneous, aging is mostly in stainless steel or concrete, and oak plays almost no role at all -except for Rosa Nera, a rosé raised in old barrels to bring texture. The idea is always clarity, precision and wines you want to drink bottle after bottle, not just a glass.

For many, Nero d’Avola has a reputation for being either simple and generic or dense and soupy with oak. Pierpaolo’s wines prove otherwise. His reds are 100% Nero d’Avola yet they are energetic, taut and full of detail. They challenge any assumptions about what one may think to know about the grape, showing that in the right hands it is not only capable of good wine, but of truly great wine.

Marabino is proof that there are no “lesser” grapes, only different ways of growing and interpreting them. In Pierpaolo’s vineyards, Nero d’Avola becomes something refined, elegant and unmistakeably Sicilian- wines with purity, honesty and a strong sense of place.