Winemaker Notes
Deep, intense ruby red with purple tinges. Complex and quite elegant, with notes
of red berries, such as sour cherry and raspberry, along with notes of vanilla and hints of spices due to ageing in barriques. Great, elegant, and harmonious structure, characterized by smooth and velvety tannins. Very long aromatic persistence.
Ideal with grilled and braised red meats and game. Excellent with medium and mature cheese.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
A salty and savory nose on this wine has crushed rocks, pencil shavings, new leather and then balsamic vinegar, wild oregano and black pepper. Dried cherries and strawberry candy come through on the palate before grilled meat, rocks, soil and the slightly sour saltiness of vinegar are pointed up by powerful acid.
-
James Suckling
Hazelnut chocolate to the rich currants, ripe plums and a hint of bark. Juicy and intense on the palate with medium to full body and sleek tannins. Has good length to close.
-
Wine Spectator
A harmonious red, with a frame of plush, well-knit tannins and generous flavors of chopped black cherry, plum skin, tea rose and milled spices. Reveals loamy earth and mineral accents, which push through to linger on the finish.
Boldly opulent and robust, Nero d’Avola is Sicily’s most widely planted red grape. Nero d’Avola performs well both as a single varietal bottling and in blends. It loves hot, arid climates and Sicily's old vines are aptly head-trained close to the ground, making them resistant to strong winds. A few pioneering producers in California as well as Australia farm Nero d’Avola in the same way. Somm Secret—Nero d’Avola's other name, Calabrese, suggests origins from the mainland region of Calabria.
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.