Bonavita

The winery Bonavita comes into being thanks to the determination of Scarfone’s family, who, have given new life to the great extensions of the very same vineyards that have been cultivated in the family for over a century. The objective of the winery is to contribute to revalue one of the most ancient Sicilian guaranted quality wines, the “Faro” of Messina (Faro is one of the oldest DOC of Sicily, born in 1976, it is located in the north-eastern tip of Sicily).

The winery extends over an area of a little over seven hectares, two and a half of which are vineyards, the rest are made up of olive, oak and chestnut trees. The vineyards situated at Faro Superiore and Curcuraci, rise on a steep hill overlooking the Strait of Messina at 250-300 meters above sea level.

Here, only the indigenous grapes are cultivated (Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Nocera) and a low output per hectare is purposely maintained. One of the priorities of the farming techniques is to protect the environment: they avoid the use of chemical substances by introducing natural organic fertilizers only into the soil in autumn. Moreover, to defend the vines from parasites they use the authorized products of biological agriculture.

The harvest begins at the end of September and continues to the middle of October where chosen grapes are gathered by hand and taken to the vine cellars which are only a few hundred metres away.

The fermentation for red wine “Faro D.o.c. Bonavita” begins by steeping the grapes with indigenous yeast, long maceration on the skins for about twenty days in steel vats, and then age the wine in one large conical oak barrel for about twenty months.

The rose wine is made with a short maceration, only twelve hours and after that the wine stays in steel vats for six months.