Bonavita, IlNò 2021 - 75cl

IlNò is Bonavita's love letter to Nocera, the almost-forgotten grape of the Messina hills. Where the estate's Faro is a blend, this bottling is pure Nocera, and the name is a wink: a wine that says no to convention and yes to a variety most growers gave up on decades ago. Giovanni Scarfone farms it near the Faro lighthouse, at 250 to 300 metres on clay and calcareous tuff.

Nocera is naturally pale, low in sugar and high in acid, which is exactly why it works. This is a red built on freshness and tension rather than power. Fermentation happens in concrete with no added sulphur, followed by a long four-week maceration on the skins, ten months in cement and a year in bottle. The result is unmistakably natural in spirit but precise and clean in execution, not a hair out of place.

In the glass it is bright and perfumed: violets and crushed red berries, then undergrowth, Mediterranean scrub and a distinctly iodine, sea-spray lift that gives away its coastal home. The palate is slim and elegant, more about drive and detail than weight, finishing savoury and persistent. At just over thirty pounds this is a genuinely characterful, thought-provoking bottle for anyone bored of the obvious. Chill it a little and it sings.

How to Serve

Serve at 14-15°C, lightly chilled, in a medium red glass. No decanting required; this is a wine that rewards freshness, so pour and let it open gently over the meal.

Where to Drink It

Planque in Haggerston, whose cellar champions exactly this kind of low-intervention find. Dandy on Maltby Street for its natural bent. The Dandy crowd aside, Brat's fire-cooked menu also flatters its saline edge.

Food Pairings

Lovely with grilled sardines and a squeeze of lemon, the wine's iodine note meeting the oily fish head on. It also partners well with a plate of pasta alla Norma.