Region: Sicilia

Zone:

Eloro DOC

Eloro is a zone located in the southeastern part of Sicily, under the northern-most latitude of Africa, so it's pretty warm. Eloro consists of the Noto, Pachino, Portopalo di Capo Passero and Rosolini communes, in the Syracuse province, together with Ispica in the Ragusa province.

The place was originally a Greek settlement, and seen from a historical perspective, Eloro is an exciting place. You find remains of a Grecian theater, a temple dedicated to the goddess Demetra, vestibule, some streets and city walls and a Hellenistic burial ground.

We also find exciting nature in the region, and its beautiful country, with a fantastic sea, pre-Roman ruins and Baroque masterpieces of unique character.

In terms of wine, we're in Nero d'Avola country, and drops from these grapes are close to pitch-black, especially from the sub-zone Pachino. For decades, the wines from Eloro were primarily known for their high alcohol concentration, juice and power, which made them interesting to continental wine cultivators, e.g. from France, who used the wine from this region to give body to their own thin wines.

After their French colleagues got a better handle on their production, the demand fell, a development which disturbed the winemakers in Eloro considerably. They realized that, in order to survive, they needed to draw the world's attention to the local wines' qualities. And they succeeded.

After some years of hard work, the local wine production finally reaped the fruits of their labor, when they received their DOC appellation in 1994, which is totally based on red wine from the local grape varieties Frappato, Pignatello and Nero d'Avola.

If pitch-black wine with juice and power is your thing, you've come to the right place.

Read more about the wines from Eloro DOC by clicking i the top menu in the right side.