Nero d’Avola – Natural Red Wine from Sicily
WHAT IS A NATURAL WINE?
NATURAL WINES ARE made only with organic/biodynamic grapes, without adding or subtracting anything in the cellar. No additives, no chemicals, no aromas, no selected yeasts, low sulfur, that’s it.
MODUS BIBENDI NERO D’AVOLA 17 from Nero d’Avola grapes
GRAPES VARIETY: Nero d'Avola (100%)
MACERATION throughout fermentation - SOIL clay calcareous - AGEING 9 months in chestnut wood tonneau barrels
WINEMAKING natural, spontaneous fermentation
AVAILABLE VINTAGES: 2017(MODUS BIBENDI NERO D’AVOLA), 2021 (MODUS BIBENDI ROSSO)
fig.1: in the photo MODUS BIBENDI ROSSO 21
Nero d’Avola is our natural red wine from Sicily, made from 100% Nero d’Avola grapes cultivated in a Mediterranean climate.
✦ The IDEA OF THE wine
Modus Bibendi Nero d’Avola is our natural red wine made from 100% Nero d’Avola, a grape often called the “king” of Sicilian vines because of its historic prominence and capacity for power and depth.
But in our interpretation, this wine is not about sheer force or intensity. We envisioned Nero d’Avola as a queen of charisma, elegance and character, bold yet refined, capable of seducing through nuance rather than muscle.
For too long, many have associated southern reds with heaviness and brute power. We challenged that notion, focusing on gentler traits, acidity, freshness and expressive structure, to let the wine show grace alongside strength.
In winemaking we protect the true essence of the grapes, preserving their personality rather than exaggerating their most robust features.
✦ The vineyard
The grapes are grown on clay-calcareous soils in our organic vineyards, where the rhythms of Sicilian light and breeze shape fruit with clarity and resonance.
Timing is fundamental: picking the grapes at the right moment allows the elegant aspects of Nero d’Avola to rise to the fore, without surrendering to overripeness or aggressive concentration. This patience in the vineyard ensures that the grapes maintain acidity, aromatic tension and structural balance, qualities we believe are essential to the true spirit of this grape.
✦ In the cellar
The approach in the cellar is in harmony with our natural philosophy: we let fermentation happen spontaneously, with minimal intervention, and we accompany the wine’s evolution without forcing it.
For Modus Bibendi Nero d’Avola, after primary fermentation the wine remains in contact with the juice for the entire maceration period, allowing its personality to form naturally and fully.
Following maceration, the wine undergoes ageing for about nine months in chestnut wood tonneau barrels.
Chestnut was chosen deliberately:
it is a wood native to Sicily, part of the island’s tradition;
it gentles the wine’s exuberance without overwhelming its aromatic expression;
it leaves space for the grape’s essence to unfold freely.
This extended time in wood, combined with patience and care, helps temper the rebellious side of Nero d’Avola while enhancing its refined qualities.
✦ Tasting
Modus Bibendi Nero d’Avola is expressive yet approachable, with a presence that feels both generous and thoughtful.
On the nose, the wine reveals layers of fruit and nuance impressions of darker berries and warm Mediterranean earth, framed with a hint of spice and herbal complexity.
On the palate, it strikes a balance between freshness and depth. The acidity carries the wine forward, while the tannins and structure bring harmony and poise. There’s a sense of fluidity and balance that makes the wine compelling and engaging.
This is a red that speaks of Sicily’s soul: proud yet welcoming, refined yet unpretentious.
✦ A broader vision
With this Nero d’Avola, we wanted to honour the grape’s true character, beyond stereotypes of power or weight.
Our aim is not to overpower the senses, but to invite understanding to let drinkers discover the elegance, inner balance and expressive nuance that this grape can achieve when given time, respect and gentle handling.
Modus Bibendi Nero d’Avola is part of our philosophy of natural wine: a wine that tells its story honestly from soil to glass rooted in Sicily’s land and shaped by mindful craft.
THE VARIETY: NERO D’AVOLA
Nero d’Avola is a red-wine grape originating on Sicily, originally from the town of Avola. It is generally considered one of the dozen and a half or so of world-class red-wine grapes.
Though many centuries old, Nero only emerged onto the world stage perhaps three decades ago. Prior to that, it was important, but only as a blending wine; now it is a “hot” mono-varietal.
Though Sicily may seem a relatively small place, it has quite a few fairly different microclimates, and the better wines from the island (including, of course, Nero) reflect those terroir, so the wines are far from fungible.
The flavor qualities of a Nero d’Avola are distinctive, though (as always) not so easy to define. They tend to soft roundness and moderate alcohol levels, and are not as acidic as some Italian reds. There is classically a dark-cherry element to the fruit, but also a pleasing quality of what some call earthiness, some smokiness, and others “dust”; many associate that defining note with the volcanic soil that pervades Sicily, but that may be only psychological (volcano dust = dusty flavor). Nero wines almost all drink quite well when young, but the best will reward cellaring.
[variety info credits: thatusefulwinesite.com]
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