Winemaker Notes
Bright pale pink in color, it has a wide floral bouquet of jasmine and rose petals, with delicate fruity notes of peach and white-fleshed fruits. Of pleasant fragrance, minerality and finesse, it surprises with remarkable persistence.
Perfect for aperitifs, raw fish, vegetarian dishes, and delicate meats. Excellent at 10-12 °C (50-53 °F).
Professional Ratings
-
Vinous
Wonderfully spicy, the 2023 Rosa is a pretty pale pink color with a bouquet of lime-infused green apples and hints of confectionery spice. It opens with a pretty inner sweetness that gives way to vivid white pear and zests of orange. A core of vibrant acidity maintains fantastic energy within. This cleans up beautifully, crisp and refreshing with a salty flourish—a fantastic rendition of Donnafugata's Rosa, despite the difficulties of the vintage.
-
James Suckling
A super-salty and savory wine with aromas of strawberries, jasmine, white peaches and broom flowers. It’s light-bodied and silky on the palate, with moderate acidity and strawberry candy flavors.
-
Wine Enthusiast
The nose has savory aromas of tarragon, seashells and potting soil, but also the sweetness of ultraripe cherry tomatoes and delicate citrus blossoms. The palate is cohesive, with more earth and brine, and then sweet, mature apricots and wild strawberries.
Whether it’s playful and fun or savory and serious, most rosé today is not your grandmother’s White Zinfandel, though that category remains strong. Pink wine has recently become quite trendy, and this time around it’s commonly quite dry. Since the pigment in red wines comes from keeping fermenting juice in contact with the grape skins for an extended period, it follows that a pink wine can be made using just a brief period of skin contact—usually just a couple of days. The resulting color depends on grape variety and winemaking style, ranging from pale salmon to deep magenta.
A large, geographically and climatically diverse island, just off the toe of Italy, Sicily has long been recognized for its fortified Marsala wines. But it is also a wonderful source of diverse, high quality red and white wines. Steadily increasing in popularity over the past few decades, Italy’s fourth largest wine-producing region is finally receiving the accolades it deserves and shining in today's global market.
Though most think of the climate here as simply hot and dry, variations on this sun-drenched island range from cool Mediterranean along the coastlines to more extreme in its inland zones. Of particular note are the various microclimates of Europe's largest volcano, Mount Etna, where vineyards grow on drastically steep hillsides and varying aspects to the Ionian Sea. The more noteworthy red and white Sicilian wines that come from the volcanic soils of Mount Etna include Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio (reds) and Carricante (whites). All share a racy streak of minerality and, at their best, bear resemblance to their respective red and white Burgundies.
Nero d’Avola is the most widely planted red variety, and is great either as single varietal bottling or in blends with other indigenous varieties or even with international ones. For example, Nero d'Avola is blended with the lighter and floral, Frappato grape, to create the elegant, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, one of the more traditional and respected Sicilian wines of the island.
Grillo and Inzolia, the grapes of Marsala, are also used to produce aromatic, crisp dry Sicilian white. Pantelleria, a subtropical island belonging to the province of Sicily, specializes in Moscato di Pantelleria, made from the variety locally known as Zibibbo.