Winemaker Notes
Aromas of cherry and raspberry with a spicy background. Full, warm and elegant, very persistent, with typical austere, but polite, tannins.
Best paired with meat dishes, game meats, roasts and filets.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A restrained style of nero d’avola, this shows dried herbs, blackberry leaves, elderberries and Chinese spices. Medium-bodied and lightly crunchy on the palate, framing finely woven tannins and finely tuned acidity. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Valle dell'Acate 2017 Sicilia Nero d'Avola Il Moro is charming, full and generous with plenty of warm and soothing flavors generated by the relentless Sicilian sun. This hot vintage expression certainly doles out the more mature side of cherry, plum and blackcurrant. But the grape, the mighty Nero d'Avola, can easily be recognized, thanks to those distinctive tones of scorched earth and black olive. It's perfect for a skillet of sausage, peppers and mushrooms.
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Wine Spectator
A well-balanced red, medium-bodied and fresh, with light, fine tannins and a minerally overtone of iron and smoke layered with flavors of black plum and currant, Mediterranean herbs and ground white pepper.
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.