Elios Modus Bibendi Nero d'Avola Terre Siciliane 2018 (750 ml)

GRAPES VARIETY: Nero d'Avola (100%)

MACERATION: for the entire fermentation period

SOIL: clay calcareous

AGEING: 9 months in chestnut wood tonneau barrels

WINEMAKING: natural, spontaneous fermentation

Many people call it the “KING” of Sicilian vines, probably because it is the most common red grape variety in Sicily, or perhaps because over the years it has built up its dominant position based on its alcoholic “strength”, its “power” of concentration and “greatness” of its body.These are the reasons why it has long been the emblem of southern wines used to “fortify” the more delicate wines of northern Italy and northern Europe. However, are we sure that this is the true essence of Nero D’Avola?We have always imagined it as a queen who, with her charisma, her elegance, refinement and character, rebellious at times, could make anyone who drank her fall in love with her.In winemaking we try to protect the character of the grapes and the wine and in our opinion Nero d’Avola is not best described as “muscular”.Once we had got rid of the platitude that describes southern wines as “heavy”, we concentrated on the more delicate characteristics of this wine. Paraphrasing a witty remark from a well-known film “the secret to riches is the same as the secret to comedy: timing!”. For Nero D’Avola the timing of the harvest plays a fundamental role in exalting its elegant features rather than its muscular characteristics. Our aim is to preserve the acidity and the feeling of freshness so as to sustain its alcoholic note and polyphenolic composition.But this is not enough: rebellious characters must be tamed and so the wine is aged in chestnut barrels for around nine months. The wine’s exuberance is softened by the barrels and by time, as it matures. The use of chestnut wood was not an accidental choice: it maintains Sicilian authenticity (since it is a wood produced in Sicily and traditionally used for winemaking), and does not intrude upon the wine’s aromatic component.

We make minimum intervention low sulfites wines only with our native Sicilian organic grapes grown between Alcamo, Camporeale and Monreale; areas all located in the north-west part of Sicily.

Grillo, Zibibbo, Nero d'Avola, Catarratto and Nerello Mascalese are the varieties we grow.

Elios came about in 2015, when we both found ourselves having to decide on the future of our career paths.

We were both dissatisfied with our jobs, both fed up with working for other people’s dreams. Both in love for natural wines.

Despite coming from different backgrounds, what we had in common was a love of nature and of Sicily and the desire to revitalise our families’ agricultural holdings, which up to that point had been under the thumb of the industrial groups to which we sold our grapes and olives for next to nothing.

OUR IDEA WAS TO PRODUCE:

Wine trough a low intervention winemaking process (without using chemicals or additives etc.), from the grapes that our parents sold to major wineries, thus giving the grapes the chance to truly express themselves and recover their lost dignity.Our start was not simple. We bet on our lands and dared on something unusual for our area.Practically all the people in our province (Trapani) are great vines cultivators but not winemakers. Nobody wants to risk any cent nowadays to make wine. People prefer to be sure to sell the grapes for nothing to big wineries, thus living in a comfort zones but at the same time complaining cyclically about the price and the low profit farming model.We decided to go against the current, dreaming to relaunch the territory and the potentials of our farms.

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