WINERY

Between 1800 and 1900 the winery was quite busy and prosperous. At harvest time, Don Giuseppe was employing up to 50 workers from neighbouring towns. The Buonivini building represented an important reference point in this area. It was referred as the Di Natale House whether by civilians or even on military road charts for this area.

At the end of the 19th century Giuseppe Di Natale along with partner Antonna, built a distribution warehouse (scagno) in Pachino, an area situated in the very Southern tip of Sicily. This facility was attracting brokers from all over Northern Italy.  These trade people were seeking for robust and succulent wines expressing the radiance of our territory.  This wine profile was very much on demand by dealers of Northern Italy. This company was known as: “Di Natale-Antonna”, and Giuseppe Di Natale became soon the sole owner. The 1903 issue of the “Industrial and Agricultural Review of Sicily” (Rivista commerciale industriale e agricola della Sicilia) mentioned the winery Di Natale as one of the most representative enterprise of Southern Sicily.

In 1908 Buonivini passed to Giuseppe Di Natale’s son Don Corrado. He was a very popular and charismatic man as reported by the many writings and narrative of his workers.

In 1936 due to unfavourable economic convergences, the wine prices collapsed. This fact represented a unique opportunity for all warehouses that start buying enormous quantities of wine. As a result, there were riots organized by starved farmers who plundered and burned down all warehouses except Don Corrado’s facility:  he was the only buyer who was loyal and respectful to the farmers hard work. So he refused to lower his prices in order to keep sustainable the efforts of the local growers. During this time period, additional estates were acquired by Don Corrado.

In 1949 the Buonivini vineyards were passed as a dowry to Don Corrado’s daughter Maria and her husband, lawyer Angelo Gurrieri. They embarked on a major transformation: they expanded the vineyards planted to Nero d’Avola, they expanded the wine mill (palmento) and increased their cellar capacity to 1200 hl. They bought another vineyard, Gisira, where they planted citrus trees while implementing a major drainage project. At that time the traditional crops (wine, olive oil and carobs) were replaced with greenhouse farming. Maria and Angelo Gurrieri, jointly with their son Corrado, made sure to keep the traditional vocation of this territory and even increased the vineyards planting 5 ha. with white Muscat, henceforth producing DOC Moscato di Noto.

In 1990 these properties were passed to Corrado the current owner, whom, with the precious help of his wife Valeria, have been carrying out a medium to long-term re-organization of the winery featuring:

• State-of-the art farming techniques of certified organic grapes vineyards;
• A cyclical renewal process of the vineyards with the latest agricultural methods and within the respect of the territory’s vocation;
• Increasing and rationalizing the planting of the olive trees orchards;
• Purchasing additional surrounding properties renowned for the high standards their grapes;
• Remodelling the original building, the surrounding rural houses and the warehouse;
• Buying a small oil mill, for the family’s own use only.

2002 has been another year of major recognitions. Thanks to the support of friends and the journalist Cristoforo von Ritter we started the production and the bottling of the first DOC Eloro Nero d’Avola La Favola wine, whose label is the result of Franca von Ritter’s creative spirit.

Today, after four generations and 200 years of history, Tenuta La Favola is a well established, internationally renowned company that can boast:

• Italian and Swiss organic certifications;
• Experimental fields using biodiversity;
• A photovoltaic system generating renewable energy;
• A multicultural artists’ residences project made possible through the Bridge Art organization.