Winemaker Notes
Deep ruby red color, with deep violet flashes. Its strength and complexity immediately stand out at the nose. Blackberry and cherry notes balanced with vanilla scent. Soon there are tobacco aromas, and towards the end balsamic notes, and elegant vegetal notes. Fruity taste, intense, elegant tannins and freshness. Very long on the palate.
Match with tasty red meat and medium and long aged cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2021 Nero d'Avola Don Antonio slowly evolves with a minty freshness that opens the stage for notes of dried black cherry, balsamic spice and shavings of cedar. Sweetly focused yet elegant and balanced, it firms up with a wave of tart wild berry fruit and a sour citrus concentration that saturates toward the close. Edgy tannins coat the palate as the 2021 finishes with outstanding length and potency, leaving a staining of raspberry and clove. While a bit cloying for my personal taste, this powerhouse will have its fans.
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Wine Spectator
Well-spiced and aromatic, with a pure beam of ripe cherry and currant fruit flavors enmeshed with fine-grained, supple tannins. Silky on the palate, with a lovely range of dark chocolate, dried sage, blood orange peel and mineral details chiming in on the finish. Drink now through 2035. 1,666 cases made, 250 cases imported.
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James Suckling
A firm, dense and concentrated nero d’avola with aromas of cassis, dried herbs and bark. It’s full-bodied with firm tannins. A dense core of berries and a rigid structure framing the palate, giving a firm, compact 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.