Winemaker Notes
Wonderful when paired with red meat, mushroom based dishes, pastas with hearty sauces, and aged cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Always one of the finest expressions of Nero d'Avola, this polished, delicious wine opens with enticing aromas of blue flower, dark berry.Editors' Choice
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James Suckling
This shows amazing aromas of fresh raspberries, dried fruit and lavender. Some fresh rosemary too. Full to medium body plus rich fruit, but fresh and clean with hints of citrus. A wine with wonderful acid/fruit balance.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Noto Sicilia Santa Cecilia is a fabulous achievement and brings us back to past vintages (like the stunning 2005) that set the tone for this important red wine from southern Italy. The wine is packed tight with all-Sicilian aromas of blackberry, grilled herb, died cherry, caper and green olive. The tannins are well integrated and the wine continues to the palate with generous fruit and Mediterranean herb. This vintage still needs a few more years of bottle age.
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Wine Spectator
A pretty, medium-bodied red, with a pure beam of wild strawberry and hints of dried thyme, rose petal, smoky mineral and star anise. Supple tannins show on the finish. Nero d'Avola. Drink now through 2021.
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.