History
A historic wine district
Buonivini takes its name from the contrada in which it stands. The historic place-name reflects a local wine-growing tradition described as centuries old. The estate’s combination of vineyards, almond trees, carob trees and olive trees also restores a diversified agricultural pattern associated with this part of Sicily for more than 2,500 years.
1997: the search for Nero d’Avola
Santa Cecilia was first produced in 1997. Research into the most suitable place for a major expression of Nero d’Avola led the Planeta family to Noto, regarded within the project as the variety’s original territory. Its pale calcareous land and old vines made it the focus of the family’s work with the grape.
1998: acquisition and foundation of Buonivini
The Planeta family acquired and founded the Buonivini estate in 1998. It became the third stage of the family’s journey across Sicily. The aim was to explore the still-underexpressed potential of Noto, return a clear identity and future to the area’s viticulture and establish a dedicated estate around Nero d’Avola.
From the beginning, the project combined wine production, landscape integration, sustainability and informal hospitality. Vineyards were established or developed among almond groves, carob trees and olive trees, while the old palmento and scattered rural houses known as Case Sparse were restored.
2003: the Invisible Winery
The Invisible Winery was completed in 2003. Conceived to minimize environmental and visual impact, it was inserted into a natural change in the hill’s level. Its architecture reconciles production requirements with the landscape: the upper vinification level faces the vineyard through a large window, while the lower level is underground and maintains controlled conditions for the barrel cellar. From above, the building is concealed by a garden of fruit trees and aromatic herbs.
The same year marked the first vintage of Passito di Noto. Its production presented the historic sweet-wine tradition of Moscato di Noto through a new controlled drying system.
2004–2009: culture, restoration and hospitality
Beginning in 2004, the wider Viaggio in Sicilia program brought Italian and international painters, photographers and writers into the family’s vineyard districts during harvest. Their works were later assembled in exhibitions, with selected pieces entering the family collection. Buonivini subsequently became one of the principal settings for this dialogue between agriculture and contemporary art.
The historic rural buildings and palmento were restored with attention to their original character. The current corporate chronology dates Costanza Algranti’s furnishing of Case Sparse with reclaimed materials to 2007. These residences became part of the estate’s hospitality and cultural activity.
Noto DOC was established in 2008, giving the estate’s work with Nero d’Avola and Moscato Bianco a dedicated denomination.
2012–2016: new expressions of Noto
Allemanda, a dry Moscato Bianco under Noto DOC, had its first vintage in 2012. Controdanza followed with its first vintage in 2016, combining Nero d’Avola with a smaller proportion of Merlot from the pale calcareous lands around the winery. It was conceived from fruit grown in the lower valley positions surrounding Buonivini.
During the 2016 harvest, Moscato Bianco picking at Buonivini was already under way by mid-August. The grapes were destined for Passito di Noto DOC and dry Moscato Bianco Noto DOC.
Organic conversion and SOStain®
The organic-conversion period for the Noto estate was completed in 2020. Beginning with the 2021 harvest, production from Noto carried organic-wine certification as well as SOStain® certification. Allemanda 2021 was the first Planeta wine released with both certifications. By 2022, all cultivated Planeta land—including vineyards, olive groves, almond orchards and cereals—was certified organic.
SOStain® adds a regional sustainability framework based on measurable improvement, scientific and technological innovation, environmental responsibility and transparent reporting. Buonivini’s organic vineyard practices include cover crops, low-dose copper and sulphur, beneficial insects, mating disruption and mineral or botanical treatments.
2021: a new cultural and tasting space
In 2021 the estate hosted the first Planeta Sessions: Moon, combining contemporary art, experimental music and the natural setting of the Val di Noto. A new, spacious area for wine conservation and tasting was also created in the largest restored rural building, completing a visitor route that begins in the vineyards and continues through the underground barrel cellar.
2023–2026: Buonivini as a contemporary-art venue
On 2 August 2023, Buonivini inaugurated Emiliano Maggi’s exhibition A Dilemma for a Starry Night, curated by Vito Planeta. Maggi and musician Cosimo Damiano performed as I Canzonieri, accompanying works inspired by the medieval poet Al-Ballanubi and by the tensions between past and future and between day and night.
In June 2025, Buonivini officially opened Costellazioni d’Arte, a permanent and evolving itinerary of site-specific contemporary works engaging with the winery, Case Sparse and the agricultural landscape. The opening added a new work by Vanessa Beecroft.
On 16 June 2025, the estate hosted Wine is a Contemporary Story. Discussions among producers, cultural figures and beverage professionals culminated in the Manifesto di Noto del Vino Contemporaneo, presenting wine as an agricultural act, a cultural good, a generator of relationships and an evolving expression of its own time.
In May 2026, Buonivini’s Cantine Aperte program joined the estate’s native Moscato Bianco and Nero d’Avola vineyards, the Invisible Winery and Case Sparse with six site-specific works by Italian and international artists.
Terroir
Buonivini lies in the heart of Val di Noto, between the late-Baroque cities of Noto and Modica, the coastal villages of Marzamemi and Portopalo di Capo Passero and the Vendicari Nature Reserve.
The estate occupies gentle, exposed hills that descend toward the sea. Vineyards alternate with almond groves, carob trees and olive trees. Air and climatic influence rise from the meeting of the two seas at Sicily’s southeastern extremity, while wind is a recurring feature of the vineyard landscape.
The microclimate is described as extreme, with rainfall among the lowest in Europe. Pale, highly calcareous soils dominate. Vineyard descriptions specify fine-textured lime marl with abundant small skeletal components and light-coloured calcareous or chalky fragments. Lower valley positions around the winery are somewhat less calcareous and give fruit a more prominent role in Nero d’Avola.
The named vineyards lie between approximately 35 and 70 metres above sea level. Zuppardo and Agliastro selections occupy sites around 35–40 metres, while Buonivini vineyard positions extend from about 40 to 70 metres. These low hills, maritime influence, limited rainfall and lime-rich soils form the estate’s setting for Nero d’Avola, Moscato Bianco and Merlot.
Winemaking
The entire cultivated area is managed under organic certification, supplemented by the SOStain® sustainability protocol.
Cover crops of broad beans, vetch and wildflowers are grown between the vines to add organic matter and nitrogen and support the vitality of soil microfauna. Plant-health treatments rely on very small quantities of sulphur and copper. Pest pressure is addressed with beneficial insects, mating disruption and natural restorative or protective applications including zeolite, kaolin and plant extracts.
The vineyards retain a diversified Mediterranean agricultural setting. Almond trees, carob trees and olive trees grow alongside the vines, recreating a mixed productive landscape associated with the area over millennia. The broader approach seeks minimal intervention, coexistence between agriculture and the surrounding environment, preservation of the landscape and progressive improvement against measurable sustainability objectives.
The Noto estate completed organic conversion in 2020. Wines from the 2021 harvest carried organic certification in addition to SOStain®, and all cultivated land across the family enterprise was certified organic by 2022. Moscato Bianco harvesting can begin by mid-August; in 2016, fruit destined for Passito di Noto and dry Moscato Bianco Noto DOC was already being picked during this period.
The Invisible Winery
Completed in 2003, the winery was built into a natural change in the hill’s level to minimize its visual and environmental impact. From the surface, the principal visible element is the garden of fruit trees and aromatic herbs covering the structure.
The first level is devoted to vinification and faces the vineyard through a broad window, visually connecting the production area with the source of the grapes. The second level descends fully underground and protects the barrel cellar at controlled temperature. The resulting layout combines the technical requirements of production and maturation with an architectural approach designed around the existing landscape.
The restored palmento preserves the memory of the traditional place where local farmers once made wine. A separate conservation and tasting area was created in 2021 inside the largest restored rural building, completing a visitor route from vineyard to winery and barrel cellar.
The estate’s current portfolio demonstrates the use of both temperature-controlled stainless-steel production and barrel maturation, but individual protocols differ by wine. Passito di Noto employs a modern controlled drying approach that renews the area’s historic sweet-wine tradition.
Philosophy
Buonivini was conceived around maximum integration with the landscape and minimum environmental impact. The Invisible Winery embodies that principle architecturally, while organic farming, Mediterranean polyculture and restoration of the palmento and rural houses extend it across the estate.
The project treats sustainability as an ongoing direction rather than a completed destination. Its framework combines economic durability, ecological care and social equity, with agriculture understood as an activity that coexists with the surrounding environment. Organic farming and SOStain® protocols are paired with landscape protection, bio-architecture, cultural programming and hospitality.
The estate’s wine-growing purpose is closely tied to place: Nero d’Avola was the principal reason for coming to Noto, and the work at Buonivini seeks to give the variety an identity rooted in the pale calcareous soils and maritime conditions of its original territory. Moscato Bianco provides a second connection to Noto’s established wine tradition.
Cultural activity is treated as another way of interpreting and caring for the landscape. Artists are invited to look at the agricultural environment from perspectives different from those of the grower or winemaker, while permanent installations turn the working winery into a space for reflection on Sicily, time, identity, gender and the relationship between people and nature.