Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made with hot-vintage Nero d'Avola (58%) and Perricone (42%), fruit for this iconic Sicilian wine comes from the eight-hectare San Lucio Vineyard (and speaking of Saint Lucio, I can't help but give a nod to the late Lucio Tasca d'Almerita, who did much to shape the identity of modern Sicilian wine). The Tenuta Regaleali Tasca d'Almerita 2017 Sicilia Contea di Sclafani Rosso del Conte is an easy wine to recognize in a blind tasting thanks to its distinctive aromas of blackcurrant, olive, aniseed and scorched earth. The wine takes you straight to beautiful Sicily at the heart of the Mediterranean.
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Wine & Spirits
A blend of nero d’Avola with perricone (42 percent), this wine is so evocative of central Sicily’s fields of wildflowers and scrubby herbs. Its plummy fruit flavors are packed with notes of mint, lavender and fennel, the flavors gaining notes of orange peel and warm spice on the way to a lively, energetic finish.
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Wine Spectator
Delivers a rich underpinning of tarry smoke and melted licorice, which support flavors of baked black plum and black raspberry fruit and accents of wild sage, cedar and sandalwood. Well-knit, with fine, crisp tannins, and lively on the palate through to the racy finish. Nero d'Avola and Perricone. Drink now through 2030. 2,458 cases made, 200 cases imported.
"Regaleali is a vast Sicilian estate owned by the noble Tasca d'Almerita family since 1837 and best-known for its fine wines. Sicily's viticultural roots are some of the world's most ancient as the area supported vines as far back as five centuries before Christ. The Tasca D'Almerita family runs a model estate that yields approximately 200,000 cases annually. The wines are made in one of the world's most modern wineries built under the direction of Ezio Rivella.
The wines of Regaleali continue to grow in both quantity and quality thanks to the hard work and dedication of Count Giuseppe Tasca over the past 50 years. Today the winery is run by Lucio Tasca and his sons, Giuseppe and Alberto who are increasingly involved in management. Carlo Ferrini, one of Italy's most renown enologists, is makes the wines. In conjunction with the winery, Anna Tasca Lanza - Lucio's sister – also runs a highly regarded cooking school at the estate."
With hundreds of red grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended red wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged resulting in a wide variety of red wine styles. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a red wine blend variety that creates a fruity and full-bodied wine would do well combined with one that is naturally high in acidity and tannins. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
How to Serve Red Wine
A common piece of advice is to serve red wine at “room temperature,” but this suggestion is imprecise. After all, room temperature in January is likely to be quite different than in August, even considering the possible effect of central heating and air conditioning systems. The proper temperature to aim for is 55° F to 60° F for lighter-bodied reds and 60° F to 65° F for fuller-bodied wines.
How Long Does Red Wine Last?
Once opened and re-corked, a bottle stored in a cool, dark environment (like your fridge) will stay fresh and nicely drinkable for a day or two. There are products available that can extend that period by a couple of days. As for unopened bottles, optimal storage means keeping them on their sides in a moderately humid environment at about 57° F. Red wines stored in this manner will stay good – and possibly improve – for anywhere from one year to multiple decades. Assessing how long to hold on to a bottle is a complicated science. If you are planning long-term storage of your reds, seek the advice of a wine professional.
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.