Heroic viticulture: Favignana, the new “native” vineyard

Grillo, Perricone, Nero d’Avola, Zibibbo and Catarratto: these are the native vine varieties of the new vineyard of the Calamoni Estate in Favignana


The installation of 1,000 new plants in the vineyard of the Calamoni estate on the island of Favignana in the Aegadian Islands has been completed.

The vineyards selected for this initiative are: Grillo, Perricone, Nero d’Avola, Zibibbo and Catarratto. 4 native vineyards that enhance the marine habitat and the ability of these plants to resist in a normally hostile environment. Favignana has a niche production: here, the choice of vineyards and territory embody the concept of terroir.

Sandy soils, salinity and proximity to the sea characterize this microclimate.

Really special autochthonous vines, those of Calamoni, with which for the first time we experience the “viticulture of the sea” with ungrafted vines.

«We are facing a real heroic viticulture of the sea – Federico Lombardo of Monte Jato, marketing director of Firriato, says – practiced in a production environment surprising for the nature of its landscape and characterized by extreme climatic conditions. After its arrival in Favignana, Firriato built in the Calamoni Estate a small experimental field, planting a series of ungrafted specimens of native vines. The experiment has given excellent results, becoming the definitive agronomic choice adopted on the island. A choice motivated by the extreme conditions of this production context: the high grittiness of the land and the paramount saline matrix that characterize this area, constantly renewed in the surface by the dual action of the sea and the wind. These circumstances are optimal conditions for growing ungrafted vines. Having plants that do not have rootstocks and that from the roots up to the apical part belong to the same body, can only add more uniqueness to these very special and of identity wines».