Italy · Langhe

Azienda Agricola Giovanni Boroli

Organic estate in the far southeast of Sicily, growing native Sicilian varieties on limestone plateau between Noto and Modica since 2004.

The producer

La Giasira is a 130-hectare agricultural estate on the limestone plateau of Sicily's far southeast at 180 to 250 metres elevation. Giovanni Boroli, a businessman from Piedmont, and his wife Isabella, from Venice, bought the property in 2004 and planted the first vines in 2005, choosing only native Sicilian varieties and certifying organic with ICEA from the opening season. The estate name comes from an Arabic word meaning island, a trace of Sicily's medieval history that appears on every label.

The wine range is compact and focused: three bottles under the La Giasira name, all from the 13-hectare vineyard planted within the broader estate. The Grillo is a bright, mineral white with citrus acidity and no oak. The Nero d'Avola spends 12 months in large oak barrels and arrives dark, fruit-forward, and settled. The Morhum is 100 percent Nerello Mascalese, a grape almost entirely associated with Etna in the northeast, grown here on limestone at the opposite corner of the island, and aged 21 months across steel, oak, and bottle to produce a pale, aromatic, acidity-driven red that reads nothing like its Etna counterparts.

Known for

Native-variety Sicilian wines from certified organic vines on limestone plateau between Noto and Modica.

Notable facts

The story

The Cellar That Came Last

Giovanni Boroli planted his first vines in 2005 without a winery. He had land between two UNESCO towns, a winemaker in Gianfranco Cordero, organic certification already in place, and 13 hectares going into the ground, but no building where wine could actually be made. For five years, the vines grew and the estate's olives and almonds produced around them while the cellar remained unbuilt. In 2010, the winery went up inside the estate property. The first La Giasira bottles came from grapes grown entirely on Giasira land under rules set before the first harvest. A Piedmontese businessman who had never farmed Sicily built the cellar after the vineyard was already in the ground, in the order that made agronomic sense rather than commercial sense. The Arabic name on the label, meaning island, was there from the beginning.

The Cellar That Came Last

Giovanni Boroli planted his first vines in 2005 without a winery. He had land between two UNESCO towns, a winemaker in Gianfranco Cordero, organic certification already in place, and 13 hectares going into the ground, but no building where wine could actually be made. For five years, the vines grew and the estate's olives and almonds produced around them while the cellar remained unbuilt. In 2010, the winery went up inside the estate property. The first La Giasira bottles came from grapes grown entirely on Giasira land under rules set before the first harvest. A Piedmontese businessman who had never farmed Sicily built the cellar after the vineyard was already in the ground, in the order that made agronomic sense rather than commercial sense. The Arabic name on the label, meaning island, was there from the beginning.

From the atlas

Azienda Agricola Giovanni Boroli

At A Glance

Estate: La Giasira (Azienda Agricola Giovanni Boroli) Location: Between Noto and Modica, southeast Sicily Elevation: 180 to 250 metres Grapes: Nero d'Avola, Grillo, Catarratto, Moscato Bianco, Nerello Mascalese Certification: Organic (ICEA, since 2005) Range: La Giasira Grillo, La Giasira Nero d'Avola, La Giasira Morhum (Nerello Mascalese)

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.

The wine side of the estate is compact: 13 hectares of vines within a 130-hectare property that also holds 3,000 olive trees, more than 2,000 almond trees, ancient carob specimens, and citrus plantings. The winery was built on the estate in 2010, five years after the first vines went in. Three bottles carry the La Giasira name.

Place

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.

Nerello Mascalese planted here is a deliberate provocation. The grape is almost entirely associated with Etna, on the island's northeast flank, where volcanic soil and altitude above 600 metres define its pale colour, high acidity, and aromatic delicacy. At La Giasira, Nerello Mascalese grows at less than half that elevation, on limestone rather than basalt, in a much warmer and drier climate.

Soil And Site

The estate sits on the limestone plateau that runs through the Val di Noto, the broader southeastern zone recognised for Nero d'Avola. The soils are calcareous, free-draining, and relatively poor in organic matter, which limits vine vigour and concentrates fruit in the clusters. The 13 hectares of vines are planted at 250 metres, the upper end of the estate's elevation range. No individual vineyard block names are documented in the source material.

Story

Giovanni Boroli came to Sicily with capital and curiosity rather than inheritance. He did not buy an established wine estate; he bought agricultural land and built a wine project from scratch. In 2004, the year of acquisition, the vines did not yet exist. In 2005, with Gianfranco Cordero setting the agronomic direction, the first plantings went in. Organic certification from ICEA began the same year, before a single harvest had been taken. That sequence matters: the commitment to organic farming was not a retrospective marketing decision but the premise from which the vineyard was designed.

Five years of vine growth followed before the winery was built in 2010. The first wines released under the La Giasira label came from a property that had been shaped entirely by Giovanni and Isabella's choices, with no prior wine history to inherit or argue with. The variety selection was equally deliberate: Nero d'Avola and Grillo as the expected anchors of southeast Sicily, Nerello Mascalese as the more unusual addition, and Catarratto and Moscato Bianco in the ground even where no confirmed wines under those names have reached the market.

The estate's agricultural breadth, olives, almonds, carob, citrus alongside the vines, reflects a broader vision of Sicilian rural farming rather than a wine monoculture. The wine range stayed small and focused while the land around it remained diverse.

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

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.

In The Glass

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.

The Nero d'Avola pours dark and warm. On the nose, blackberry jam and tobacco signal a ripe, fully expressed Sicilian red. In the mouth, the tannins have been smoothed by barrel ageing without disappearing entirely. The finish carries dark fruit and a faint woodiness from the 12 months in oak. It is a full, settled wine.

The Morhum is the wine that surprises. Light ruby red in the glass, it smells more like a Burgundy than a Sicilian red: dried rose, red berries, pepper. In the mouth, the marked acidity lifts the fruit and the tannins stay soft. The 9 months in steel preserve the aromatic fragrance; the 9 months in oak add a low-level spice and body. It finishes with more length and grip than the colour implies.

A Bottle To Understand It

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.

Anecdote

Giovanni Boroli had no winery when he planted his first vines in 2005. He had land, a winemaker, and organic certification, but the building where wine would actually be made did not yet exist. For five years, the vineyards matured and the estate's olive trees and almond groves produced, while the wine infrastructure waited. In 2010, the winery was finally built inside the estate property, and the first La Giasira bottles followed from grapes grown entirely on Giasira land, under the rules set at the beginning. A Piedmontese businessman who had never farmed Sicily ended up building the cellar after the vineyard was already in the ground, in the order that made agronomic sense rather than commercial sense. The Arabic name on the label, meaning island, was there from the first harvest.

Final Word

La Giasira is a small, deliberate wine estate built from scratch by two northern Italians on limestone plateau in Sicily's far southeast. The range is three bottles deep, all from native Sicilian varieties, all organic from the first planting. The Grillo is the clearest entry into what the estate does; the Morhum, a Nerello Mascalese grown far from Etna, is the bottle worth seeking out for anyone who thinks they already know what that grape is.

Sources

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