# Turi Rosso Nero d'Avola (2024)

- **Producer:** Salvatore Marino
- **Colour:** red
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Nero d'Avola, Pignatello
- **Region:** Sicilia, Italy
- **Style:** Natural
- **Alcohol:** 12.5%
- **Average price:** €20
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 14–16 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** strawberry, cherry, plum, herbaceous, fennel

## About this wine

Salvatore Marino comes from a family of wine farmers spanning five generations in Pachino, in Sicily's Val di Noto region. While previous generations produced bulk wine, Salvatore ('Turi') established his own independent bottling project in 2017 to craft authentic, site-expressive wines. Operating out of Contrada Buonivini, his vineyards sit a mere seven kilometers from both the Ionian and Mediterranean seas, benefitting from maritime breezes and limestone-rich soils. Salvatore works according to traditional Sicilian methods, emphasizing biodiversity and natural vineyard health.

## Interesting facts

- The label design draws inspiration from early 20th-century Italian Futurism.
- Vineyards sit 7.3 km from both the Ionian and Mediterranean seas in Val di Noto.
- Salvatore Marino works his bush vines 100% manually with only a hoe and shears.
- Annual production is exceptionally small at roughly 1,300 bottles per vintage.

## Food pairing

The high acidity, vibrant maritime fresh character, and gentle tannins of this light-to-medium-bodied red make it remarkably versatile. It bridges the gap between classic red meat pairings and seafood dishes like swordfish or seafood pasta, while cuts of pork and tomato-based Sicilian pasta dishes harmonize with its crisp structure.

## Wine making process

Grapes are hand-picked in small crates with rigorous selection from traditional free-standing bush vines (alberello Pachinese). In the cellar, grapes are destemmed and gently crushed, undergoing spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts in temperature-controlled stainless steel. Skin maceration is kept short at around six days. Malolactic fermentation occurs naturally, and the wine is racked according to lunar cycles before aging exclusively in stainless steel and concrete tanks without any oak contact. The wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal sulfur additions.