“The best Italian Novello wine” is made in South: Cinurio by Calabrian company Tramontana

The winner, by unanimous decision, was Cinurio by the Tramontana winery in Reggio Calabria, a Novello wine made with 100% carbonic maceration from Calabrese grapes, the forerunners of Nero d’Avola. It is produced in the southernmost Ionian area of Italy, the Grecanic region, from which it takes its name, beating out three other wines from Central and Southern Italy: L’Aurora by Zito winery in Cirò Marina, Cupido by Principe di Corleone - Pollara in Monreale, and Catello by Viticoltori dei Colli Cimini in Vignanello. On the third step of the podium, in the end, Fresco di Vendemmia by the renowned Marche label Velenosi. These are the winners of the “Miglior novello d’Italia” - “Best Novello in Italy” 2025 contest, organized by Nuovo Istituto Nazionale del Vino e dell’Olio Novello - New National Institute of Novello Wine and Oil, headed by Tommaso Caporale, held recently at the “Salone Nazionale del Vino Novello” - “National Novello Wine Salon” No. 19, in Rome at Officine Farneto, and, which featured 50 Novello wines selected by the Institute, narrowed down to 17 finalists, evaluated by a jury composed of Fabio Santini, Ais-Associazione Italiana Sommelier sommelier, Daniele Lombardi, enologist, and Andrea Russo, taster and sensory analysis lecturer.
Special mentions “Novello amore mio” were awarded to Novello Roccomonfina IGT produced by Telaro in Galluccio and Langhe DOC Dolcetto Novello by the experimental winery of the Umberto I High School in Alba.
The award ceremony featured master pastry chef Iginio Massari as guest of honor, who emphasized that reviving the Novello wine market requires focusing primarily on the communication towards consumers.
At the end of the event, the new signature label by Lamberto Pignotti, father of visual poetry, was unveiled. It will appear on a limited edition of 12 bottles of Novello 2025 produced by Volpetti winery in Ariccia, winner of “Miglior Novello” - “Best Novello” 2024. The project, curated by Studio Archivio Courtesy Fratelli Emme in Rome and headed by artist Gianfranco Grosso, has aimed for two years (in 2024, the label was designed by Tommaso Cascella for Cantina Dorgali) to spotlight this product through contemporary art.
A market, that of Novello wine (according to law, the 2025 vintage has been on sale since October 30th, ed) appears increasingly diminished, as reported by WineNews in recent days: from a “ritual” born 50 years ago and almost “mass-market” in the 1990s, it has now become a “niche within a niche”. This is the curious fate of Novello, a winemaking specialty arisen from carbonic maceration, the first product of the latest harvest to reach tables, which has fallen from a production peak of 20 million bottles to today 1.5 million, a historical low, with a decidedly negative trend.