Why it matters
The producer
Giovanni Boroli grew up in Piedmont, far from Sicily in both geography and wine culture. His wife Isabella came from Venice. When the two of them bought the Giasira estate in 2004, they were outsiders in the most literal sense: northern Italians acquiring a 130-hectare agricultural property in the far southeast corner of an island they had no inherited claim to. The decision they made from the first planting was to grow only Sicilian native varieties, certified organic by ICEA from 2005, with winemaker Gianfranco Cordero directing the vineyard work.
The estate brand is La Giasira. The name comes from an Arabic word meaning island. Sicily spent two centuries under Arab rule in the medieval period, and the southeast corner of the island carries that history in its place names, its carob groves, and its citrus. The label wears the etymology deliberately.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The southeast corner of Sicily is not Etna country. There is no volcano here, no dramatic altitude, no lava soil. The landscape between Noto and Modica is limestone plateau, rolling and open, at 180 to 250 metres elevation. Both towns are UNESCO World Heritage sites, known for their Baroque architecture rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake.
The elevation matters for white wine. At 250 metres, nights cool faster than on the coastal plain, and that temperature drop is what keeps acidity in Grillo, a grape that can turn soft and broad when grown too close to sea level. For Nero d'Avola, the limestone retains heat through the day and gives the grape time to ripen its dark fruit fully, while the altitude moderates the extremes that would otherwise push alcohol too high.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
All 13 hectares are farmed organically under ICEA certification. Organic viticulture in southeast Sicily means managing without synthetic pesticides or herbicides in a climate that is warm and dry enough to reduce the fungal pressure that complicates organic farming further north. The limestone soils drain well and keep disease pressure lower than heavier clay sites.
In the cellar, the three wines take different routes. The Grillo is vinified without oak. The Nero d'Avola spends 12 months in 25-hectolitre oak barrels, large enough to add oxygen contact and gentle wood character without overwhelming the fruit, followed by 6 months in bottle before release. The Nerello Mascalese Morhum takes the longest and most structured path: 9 months in steel vats to preserve aromatics, then 9 months in 25-hectolitre oak barrels for integration, then 3 months in bottle. The 25-hectolitre barrel size, used for both the Nero d'Avola and the Morhum, is large by Sicilian standards and signals an interest in slow, even development rather than oak extraction.
Wines to know
The range in view
The La Giasira range is organized around three wines: Grillo, Nero d'Avola, and Morhum. Grillo is the white wine, while Nero d'Avola and Morhum are reds. Morhum is 100 percent Nerello Mascalese.
The Grillo opens with citrus and cedar peel, a mineral thread running underneath. The palate is brisk rather than broad, with bright acidity and a clean finish rather than a flabby one. It is the estate's freshest, most immediate wine.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
The Grillo is made from a native Sicilian variety. It is a white wine from a grape that grows across Sicily but expresses itself differently at altitude on limestone. La Giasira's version is straw yellow with gold reflections, fragrant with citrus and a savoury mineral edge, and carried by the bright acidity that 250 metres and cool nights preserve in the grape. No oak. The fruit is the whole story. It is the most transparent bottle in the range, the one that most directly answers the question of what this corner of Sicily produces when a northern Italian family plants native varieties and farms them without shortcuts.