2022 • Nero d'Avola 2022

Nero d'Avola 2022

Varietal:

100% Nero d'Avola

Alcohol:

13%

Vinification Notes:

2022 was a richer, more concentrated vintage and made one of my favorite Nero d’Avola’s to date. Fruit was destemmed and fermented in stainless steel tank until dry. Pressed and put to neutral barrel on lees. After 12 months each parcel was racked off lees and returned to barrel. After 32 months of barrel aging vineyard components were blended and bottled. Unfined. Lightly filtered.

Vineyard:

Bricarelli Ranch, Ukiah, Mendocino County, 16-year-old head-trained, dry-farmed (non-irrigated) vineyard, farmed by us to organic principles (no pesticides, herbicides, or synthetic fertilizers); gravelly loam soils.
Venturi Vineyard, Calpella, Mendocino County; dry-farmed (non-irrigated), certified organic vineyard; Pinole gravelly loam soils.

Tasting Notes:

As one of the few Nero d’Avola producers in the US, we’re delighted to work with this dynamic, dry-farmed berry to create balanced wine that can spend up to 10 years in your cellar. Feast your nose on notes of elephant plums and treat your palate to a cacao nib finish.

Martha's Notes

The beauty of Nero d’Avola is its Chiaroscuro-like nature: brightness from its ability to hold onto acidity in warm Mediterranean climates, and darkness from its characteristic forest fruits. I spent a very impactful vintage working with this grape at COS in Sicily, so the fact that Nero d’Avola even exists in California—AND I get to work with it in both the vineyard and cellar—makes my heart happy. While everyone else is clamoring for cool climate sites along coastal California, I am proud to be looking inland, where the hotter climate and shorter spring season make low-input farming a reality. I still want to make elegant wines, so it just means thinking outside of the box with the choice of varieties. Nero d’Avola is a perfect natural fit.