Italian Rosso To Cook With, And To Drink

I found myself looking for an Italian red for cooking. This 2019 Piccolo Fiore Terre Siciliane Rosso did the trick. Like Julia Child always said, only use a wine for cooking which you would drink on its own. 

It was fermented in stainless steel, which I love to see in a red wine. The grapes in this wine are Syrah and Nero d'Avola.  The Bronco Wine website shows no mention of oak, but I think there was oak aging. Alcohol is somewhat restrained at 13.5% abv and it sold for $9 at Whole Foods Market.

This wine is medium dark. The nose is savory, full of tar, earth, tobacco, licorice, plums and raspberries. The palate is similarly dark and savory, with sweet tannins and good acidity. I made a pasta sauce with my first pour, then enjoyed the second pour while it cooked. It was delightful. 

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A Sicilian Wine For Come Over October

Come Over October is a campaign dreamed up by a wine writer and a couple of publicists. The idea is, share wine with friends and family during the month. It is an admirable aspiration, if a little bit pedantic. Who do they think I'm drinking with during the rest of the year? Total strangers? People I don't like very much? Maybe, but they had better bring their own bottles. 

Seriously, it's a nice promotion to further the conviviality of wine consumption. Hopefully it will move a few more bottles off the shelves. Also hopefully, it will prompt folks to drink wine with people they like. It's much more enjoyable that way.

My friendly neighborhood publicist jumped on the opportunity created by this movement, and sent to me a bottle of a Sicilian wine. It was an offer I couldn't refuse.

The 2020 vintage of Tenuta Regaleali Lamùri Nero d'Avola was produced by Sicily's Tasca family. They have been making it for six decades now, so you can be sure they know what they are doing. 

Tenuta Regaleali is the family's flagship estate, located in the highlands of central Sicily. How high are the highlands? About 1800 feet, I'm told. March of the 2020 vintage was very rainy, which is good since the spring was hot and the summer dry.

The 100% Nero d’Avola grapes were grown on five estate vineyards, fermented in steel tanks and aged half in stainless steel and half in large Slavonian oak barrels for just six months. Alcohol checks in at 13% abv and the wine retails for  $16.

This wine is quite dark in the glass. Its nose is powerful, loaded with dark notes like black cherry, tar, leather, and tobacco. The palate is just as dark, with brambly cherry and plum flavors and a heavy dose of earthy minerality. The finish fades more quickly than I would like, because a savory delight is left behind after the sip. I would have this with a lamb burger or Italian sausage and be very happy with the pairing. 

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A Savory Sicilian

The Nero d'Avola grape is from Sicily. It is named after a town, Avola, in the southern part of the Italian island. If you like Shiraz wines from Australia, you will probably like Nero d'Avola. The grape produces a full bodied, spicy red wine that pairs well with dishes featuring beef or tomato sauce.

The 2018 Cantine Ermes Epicentro Nero d'Avola Riserva shows how well this grape can age. It spent a year and a half in large oak barrels and another six months in the bottle before being shipped. It has been four years since then, and the additional time shows well in the juice. The alcohol number is 14% abv and the retail figure is $24. 

This wine is a deep purple color, very dark. It offers an extremely savory nose of black fruit and a heavy dose of tar, as well as clove and cardamom. The palate shows many of the same elements. Blackberry, plum and licorice flavors are noticeable, as are cedar, tobacco and cinnamon. The tannins are firm, but not bothersome, and the finish is long and savory. It is a beauty of a wine. 

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Good News From Sicily - Affordable Nero d'Avola

The Nero d'Avola grape is from Sicily. It is named after a town, Avola, in the southern part of the Italian island. If you like Shiraz wines from Australia, you will probably like Nero d'Avola. The grape produces a full bodied, spicy red wine that pairs well with dishes featuring beef or tomato sauce.

The 2022 Nero Oro Appassimento Nero d'Avola was produced in the appassimento method, in which the grapes are dried before vinification, giving them increased color and flavor. Some fresh grapes are also included. Alcohol hits 14% abv and the retail price is $12.

This wine is dark in the glass. It has a rather muted nose, but it manages to show off some plum and dark berry aromas. There is also a smattering of tobacco, oregano and clove. The palate is complex and vivid. The strong dark fruit flavors are cloaked in sweet oak spice and black pepper. With the meatballs from my butcher across the street, the pairing is perfect. 

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Sicilian By Nature - Organic Nero d'Avola

The Nero d'Avola grape is from Sicily. It is named after a town, Avola, in the southern part of the Italian island. If you like Zinfandel or Shiraz wines from Australia, you will probably like Nero d'Avola. The grape produces a full bodied, spicy red wine that pairs well with dishes featuring beef or tomato sauce.

The 2021 Caruso & Minini Naturalmente is from the Sicilia DOC, it is organic and it has alcohol at 13.5%. The retail price for this varietal wine is $19.  

This wine is medium dark in color. The nose is rather faint, but has a nice scent of cherries and flowers. The palate explodes with a peppery shower of red fruit and some savory drapery that has an earthy, eucalyptus note to it. The flavors exhibited here are exceptional, and somewhat out of the ordinary. Pair it with a meaty pasta dish, or use it in making the meaty pasta dish. Or both. 

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Sweet Wine From Sicily For The Holidays Or Anytime

The holidays are a great time for dessert wines. The festivities just seem to shine a little brighter with a sweet wine in your glass, which is why I always try to have a few, at least. If you missed your chance at holiday sweets, there is another opportunity on the way. We call it Valentine's Day. 

One of the finest sweeties I have had was from the Sicilian producer Donnafugata. Donnafugata produces wines from a number of vineyards across the island on their estates in Contessa Entellina, Pantelleria, Vittoria and Etna. The historical family cellars in Marsala serve as a center for innovation. 

The iconic 2021 Ben Ryé Passito di Pantelleria is a sweet, complex, and aromatic wine made of 100% Muscat of Alexandria grapes, also known as Zibibbo. Passito is the style of wine made from dried grapes. Why call this wine Ben Ryé? The name comes from the Arabic term for "Son of the Wind." The wind always seems to be sweeping around the grape vines on the island of Pantelleria.

The wine was aged for eight months in oak and at least a year in the bottle before being released for sale. Alcohol sits at 14.5% abv and the price is $46 for the 375 ml bottle.

This white dessert wine has a most beautiful, rich-looking copper color. The nose is just as enticing, with big aromas of orange candy and dried apricots. The palate is a sheer delight. It is sweet enough to be dessert on its own, but has enough acidity to pair with your favorite after-dinner sweets or a selection of cheeses. It is pricy, but it is an experience that can be savored. 

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From Sicily With Nero D'Avola

The Donnafugata winery was founded in 1983 by Giacomo Rallo, but there were three generations of winemaking experience before him. A fifth is now helping to create quality wines from five estates of Sicily.

Cerasuolo di Vittoria is the first and only red wine in Sicily which has DOCG status. It is made from Nero d'Avola and Frappato grapes, vinified in steel tanks and aged there for eight months before maturing for another 10 months in the bottle.

The Donnafugata website describes the front label art as "a fantastic figure of a woman who is giving the gift of … flowers and fruits." It is a lovely and eye-catching illustration to go with the lovely wine inside the bottle.

This wine is medium tinted in a violet hue. It sports a nose of raspberry, but the fruit is just about covered up by a savory blanket. There is a strong earthy element to the aroma package, and even a bit of barnyard funk. The palate is quite dark - black raspberry, blackberry, bramble - with an extremely savory aspect. It is a very tasty wine, the acidity is dead-on perfect, and the tannins are firm, so it will pair well with your meaty dishes or pizza. 

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A Red Wine From Sicily's Volcanic Soil

Duca di Salaparuta is one of the oldest wineries in Sicily, producing fine wines since 1824. Their  Vajasindi Estate - in northeastern Sicily, on the slopes of the Etna volcano - has given the Reina family two native grape varieties for a pair of new wines. Lavico Etna Rosso DOC 2020 and Lavico Etna Bianco DOC  2021 are made, respectively, from Nerello Mascalese and Carricante grapes. The winery says that these wines exhibit "the grace of the mountain, the warmth of the sea, and the minerality of the volcano." The wines of Duca di Salaparuta are sustainably grown.

The 2020 Lavico Etna Rosso DOC is aged partly in concrete tanks and partly in French oak barrels, for a total of 12 months. Alcohol hits 13% abv and it sells for $34.

The color of the wine is a very light ruby, very elegant looking. On the nose, there is a beautiful bouquet of cherry candy, ripe strawberry and roses. The palate offers more of the same - delicate red fruit flavors are tinged with minerals and the tannic structure is very fine, almost dainty. The finish leaves a lovely impression of the fruity side of this wine, with enough of the savory side present to make one wish for more.

The 2021 Lavico Etna Bianco DOC is aged in stainless steel tanks for four months, on the lees, before getting another three months in the bottle. Alcohol tips only 12.5% abv and the wine retails for $34.

The pale wine has a nose that screams savory - salinity and minerals abound. Despite that, there is plenty of fruit to go around - stone fruit, lemons and mango. The palate is where that minerality really lives, with a taste of the ocean meeting all that citrusy fruit. Acidity is in full force, while the finish is lengthy and memorable. 

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A White Wine From Sicily's Volcanic Soil

Duca di Salaparuta is one of the oldest wineries in Sicily, producing fine wines since 1824. Their  Vajasindi Estate - in northeastern Sicily, on the slopes of the Etna volcano - has given the Reina family two native grape varieties for a pair of new wines. Lavico Etna Rosso DOC 2020 and Lavico Etna Bianco DOC  2021 are made, respectively, from Nerello Mascalese and Carricante grapes. The winery says that these wines exhibit "the grace of the mountain, the warmth of the sea, and the minerality of the volcano." The wines of Duca di Salaparuta are sustainably grown.

The 2021 Lavico Etna Bianco DOC is aged in stainless steel tanks for four months, on the lees, before getting another three months in the bottle. Alcohol tips only 12.5% abv and the wine retails for $34.

The pale wine has a nose that screams savory - salinity and minerals abound. Despite that, there is plenty of fruit to go around - stone fruit, lemons and mango. The palate is where that minerality really lives, with a taste of the ocean meeting all that citrusy fruit. Acidity is in full force, while the finish is lengthy and memorable. 

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A Breezy Sicilian White Wine

Donnafugata is a Sicilian winery run by a family who has been making wine there for 170 years. Their name comes from a novel called The Leopard, in which a queen, a fleeing woman - donna in fuga - finds refuge in the area of Sicily where the vineyards are located today.

The main grape in the Anthilia white blend is Lucido, or Catarratto Bianco Lucido as it is officially known. The winery decided to simplify the name in an effort to make it more likable.  Lucido is the second most widely planted grape on the island of Sicily, right behind Trebbiano. Donnafugata has been making this wine since the 1983 vintage. 

Grapes were taken from the Contessa Entellina estate, in the southwestern part of Sicily. The wine was vinified in stainless steel and aged in tanks for two months, with another two months in the bottle. Alcohol tips in at 12.5% abv and it retails for about $20.

The wine colors up as a light straw yellow in the glass. Its nose is quite fragrant, with explosive notes of peach and pear, white flowers and a nice touch of salinity. The palate is savory, with a strong streak of minerals draping the stone fruit flavors. The acidity is very brisk, which will make a nice pairing with seafood dishes, a Nicoise salad or creamy pasta. 

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Pinot Grigio From Sicily - They Should All Be Like This One

People sometimes don't think that wine importers are very important, that all they do is have crates of wine shipped in from who-knows-where to be peddled on the shelves in the lower reaches.  While that may be true for some, the best importers are those with a nose for wine, who can sniff out good stuff through endless trials, then bring the product to us.  Great importers like Kermit Lynch and Terry Theise - are as important and as recognizable as great producers.  

Mack and Schühle are Miami-based importers who find great wine and pass it along at a price that is more than fair.  Founded in 1939, the company expanded to the Miami office eight years ago.  They produce wine in Italy and Spain and distribute other wines globally.

The 2020 Barone Montalto Pinot Grigio is a full varietal Pinot Grigio, grown and made on the Italian island of Sicily.  The appellation is Sicilia IGT.  These grapes were turned into wine in stainless steel tanks, where they also aged for two months before bottling.  Alcohol touches 12% abv and the retail price is just $12.  

The wine appears as a very pale yellow in the glass.  Its nose suggests citrus and minerals more than flowers and fruit.  The aromas come across as a savory salinity, not the dainty sweetness which afflicts many Pinot Grigio wines.  The palate follows suit, with a bit of the sea in the flavor profile that centers largely on limes, lemons and grapefruit.  The finish is medium long and the minerals are the lasting impression.  The acidity is zippy and fresh enough for seafood and salad pairings.

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Two Wines From Sicily

This is the final installment in my virtual tour of Italy.  The wines I have covered - all 48 of them - were mostly Tre Bicchieri award winners from Gambero Rosso, the international Italian wine guide.  Tasting four dozen Italian wines over several Zoom meetings was exactly what I needed to spice up my socially distanced life back in March.  In fact, I'll do it again any time.  With pleasure.

Pietradolce Etna Rosso Archineri 2017 is made completely from the Sicilian grape Nerello Mascalese.  Some people feel it is a lot like Pinot Noir, but I find it a lot livelier, more muscular than a typical Pinot.  The vines from which these grapes came are 80 to 90 years old - prephylloxera - on the northern slopes of Mt. Etna.  

Owner Michele Faro spoke fondly of the volcanic soil during the Zoom gathering and he even brought some freshly fallen volcanic ash with him as show-and-tell.

The wine was aged 14 months in French oak tonneaux, has alcohol at 15% abv and sells for around $40.

This wine does a little Pinot Noir act, medium ruby in the glass with earthy red fruit on the nose.  The nose also offers notes of coffee, sage and eucalyptus.  The palate definitely shows the volcanic origin along with spice and pepper, plus a firm tannic structure and a ripping acidity.  The sip finishes clean and savory.  Very tasty.

Cottanera Etna Rosso Feudo di Mezzo 2016

From Sicily again, 100% Nerello Mascalese which was aged 14 to 16 months in French oak casks, then 18 months in the bottle.  Alcohol is tamer in this one, 13.5% abv, and it averages around $26 on the cash register.

This wine is medium ruby in the glass and smells of raspberry, cherry, anise and an earthy note.  The palate is like a more savory take on Pinot Noir, with coffee, red fruit and spicy herbs.  The tannins are very firm and the acidity is fresh.  There is a long finish which carries the red fruit back.  If it's an outdoor occasion this summer, the Cottanera takes a chill well.

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A White Italian Wine From The Shadow Of Mt. Etna

The Cusumano winery - now Under the Terlato umbrella - was started in 2001, when brothers Alberto and Diego Cusumano took over for their father, Francesco.  Winemaker Mario Ronco makes the Cusumano wines entirely from estate grown grapes, from five different territories throughout Sicily, including Alta Mora from Mount Etna.  Diego is the winery's export manager, who spoke for the business during a recent virtual event put on by the Italian wine guide, Gambero Rosso International.

The folks at Cusumano say the 2019 Cusumano Etna Bianco Alta Mora uses the best Carricante grapes grown in the districts of Pietramarina and Verzella, in Castiglione di Sicilia and in Arrigo in Linguaglossa.  The volcanic terroir makes the wine what it is - a complex, character-driven wine.  Alcohol checks in at 12% abv and the wine generally sells for about $53.

This wine is tinted lightly yellow and carries a hefty bit of salinity on the nose.  There is also the scent of lemons, almonds and a wet sidewalk.  The palate shows terrific minerality, a nutty backbeat and a citrus finish that lingers.  I would like a little more acidity, but this is fresh enough.

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Pinot Grigio That Is Actually A Bargain

People sometimes don’t think that wine importers are very important, that all they do is have crates of wine shipped in from who-knows-where to be peddled on the shelves in the lower reaches.  The best importers are those with a nose for wine, who can sniff out good stuff through endless trials, then bring the pleasure to us.  Great importers like Kermit Lynch and Terry Theise - are as important and as recognizable as great producers.  Mack and Schühle are Miami-based importers who find great wine and pass it along at a price that is more than fair.  Founded in 1939, the company expanded to the Miami office eight years ago.  They produce wine in Italy and Spain and distribute other wines globally.

Barone Montalto Pinot Grigio 2019 carries the designation of Terre Siciliane IGT, which means the grapes were grown in the clay soil of Sicily.  It is a full varietal wine, all Pinot Grigio, with restrained alcohol at 12.5% and a price tag of $12.  We tend to think of that price point as "bargain wine," but often the quality is poor enough to nullify the concept.  If the wine is no good, is it really a bargain?  This wine is a true bargain.

My experience with Pinot Grigio - and Pinot Gris - leaves me flat, really.  PG is not my favorite grape, by a long shot.  It is so seldom captured in all its savory beauty, more often drenched in a floral sweetness and hung with a sameness that reaches from brand to brand.

This wine is drier than your typical - or at least my typical - Pinot Grigio.  Almost the color of water, the nose shows the usual suspects: flowers and limes and rocks, oh my.  The accent on minerality is a nice flourish, particularly in this grape.  On the palate, the floral angle plays a tad stronger, with citrus in tow.  That Sicilian salinity makes itself known throughout.

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Etna Rosso For Eggplant

Italian food belongs with Italian wine, but be careful with the grape you choose.  I generally order a Sangiovese wine with any Italian dish, whether tomato or meat-based.  However, I discovered another grape the other day that simply didn't hit it off with spaghetti, but paired nicely with eggplant.

The Benanti Etna Rosso is made with two grapes named Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, 85% the former and 15% the latter.  They are both believed to be related to Sangiovese.  Eighty-percent of the wine was aged in steel tanks, the rest in French oak barriques for ten months.  Alcohol sits at 13.5% abv and retail looks to be around $20.  

James Lawrence writes that the property has been in Giuseppe Benanti's family for centuries.  He revitalized it in the 1980s and handed it down to his sons, Antonio and Salvino.  The vines grow in Viagrande, Sicily - on the slopes of Mt. Etna - an active volcano that has wiped out the towns below it seven times already.  Giuseppe shrugs off the threat and says there's no point in worrying about it. 

This wine smells and tastes like Burgundy with a volcano in it.  The nose carries earthy-yet-floral notes on a mineral base.  The palate is not exactly like Pinot Noir, but not exactly like Sangiovese, either. It paired much better with the involtini than it did with the tomato sauce spaghetti.  I guess those Sicilian grapes like eggplant better.  It showed a bit of brown around the edge, not something you see often in a young wine.


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Italian Surprise

One of the great things about Italian wines is that there's always a new grape experience around the next corner, even when there's not.  The bottle of Donna Fugata Lighea promised Zibibbo grapes from Sicily.  That sounds exotic, but Zibibbo is also known as Muscat of Alexandria.  MOA originated in North Africa and was good enough for Cleopatra, they say, so it's good enough for me.

The grapes for Donna Fugata Lighea 2016 were grown on head-trained bush vines on the island of Sicily, fermented in stainless steel and aged in vats for two months, then three more in the bottle.  The alcohol sits easy at 12.5% abv and the price comes in just under $20.

The label waxes poetic about the "disheveled tresses" of the "bewitching siren" Lighea.  That's how Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa describes the label's focal point. 

This pale golden wine's nose is brimming with orange blossom, like a walk in the garden.  The palate also plays up the orange, but includes sweet lime and lemon in the mix.  The mouthfeel is brisk and racy, with enough acidity to handle anything you'd normally pair with a white.  This wine will be a hit with lots of seafood, like shrimp scampi, oysters and grilled octopus.


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L.A. Restaurant Does Italian Wine Right

I'm disgusted with myself that it took me so long to get to Sotto in Los Angeles.  It's 15, 20 minutes from my home, right down Pico.  No excuses.  I should really get out more, and when I do, I should go back to Sotto.

Italian food from a chef who knows Italian food, with Italian wines to match.  Steve Samson owns the joint, and the food is fantastic.  The pizza crust nearly brought my wife to tears; the pork meatballs did it to me. 

It's the wine I'm here to blather on and on about, though.  Wine Director Jeremy Parzen brings his knowledge of Italian wine to bear on what people are calling one of the most interesting wine lists in L.A.  Parzen, like me, writes about wine.  Unlike me, zillions of people read his blog - DoBianchi.com.  It's one of the more widely read wine sites on the web, and one of the better ones, too.  Parzen is a wine genius, I know because I read him.  He may be an actual genius, too.  I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me.  Because of his involvement in Sotto, my expectations of the wines were high.

The 2016 Cirelli Trebbiano d'Abruzzo is $12 by the glass at Sotto.  Abruzzo is an Italian region, east of Rome, between the Adriatic Sea and behind the rain shade of the Apennine Mountains.  The Agricola Cirelli farm is organic, downright biodynamic with such attention given to the interaction of animals with the vines. 

My wife says she gets pork drippings and honey on the nose, the pork a memory from her childhood in an Italian household in Pennsylvania.  She also likes the savory, herbal flavors.  I get a nose full of wet rocks, the seashore and a slightly smoky note that seems almost shy.  The palate shows a grand salinity and stone fruit, dry as a bone. 

Denise had a Sicilian wine, probably because we’ve never been let down by one.  This one was the Biondi Etna Bianco Outis, at $18 by the glass.  It's made from the indigenous Carricante grape, in the Etna Bianco region.  The area covers the foothills of the Etna volcano, both north and south sides, and the Biondi grapes grow in the south.  The Carricante is blended with other local white varieties, like Moscadella dell'Etna, Minella, Malvasia and Catarrato.  The wine got about eight months aging in stainless steel.  We both loved the ocean on the nose and the volcanic rock on the palate.


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Sicilian Nero D'Avola Wine

From the hillsides around Marsala comes a wine that makes me think of a California Pinot Noir, only, you know, Italian.  The Villa Pozzi Nero d'Avola is sold under a corporate umbrella - Deutsch Family - but made by a guy with wine for blood.

Wine goes back a ways in Sicily, about 1500 years.  Wine also runs in the Pozzi family.  Owner and winemaker Daniele Pozzi runs it back to his great-grandfather Angelo, and his grandfather Fausto, and his dad Val. 

Nero d'Avola is a grape variety that’s indigenous to Siciliy. It's known as "the king of Sicilian grapes," in fact.  Pozzi hails the 2016 vintage as a great one, with near-perfect growing conditions that produced what he calls his best-ever Nero d'Avola.  The deep color in this wine comes after a full 15 days of contact with the skins.  The rich flavor is all thanks to the Nero d'Avola grapes - the wine is finished in stainless steel, not oak, so the fruit is given full expression.  The wine hits a reasonable 13% abv and, incredibly, sells online for under ten bucks.

This wine is dark in color and smells of black fruit, earth and tar.  There's a tartness on the palate that is more reminiscent of Pinot Noir, but with the weight of Syrah.  Blackberries, plums and pepper are in the forefront, with the tart darkness lingering after the sip.  The tannins are easy-going.


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Sicily's Favorite Grape: Catarratto

White wine should be interesting. There are plenty of them out there, those savory, salty, sometimes fishy white wines that refuse to be ignored. "I will NOT be Pinot Grigio," you can almost hear them scream.

It was a pleasure to discover a new Italian grape - well, it was new to me, but it’s been on Sicily for millennia. The Catarratto grape is native to Sicily, and is reportedly the most widely planted grape there. It goes by many other names, which all seem to involve a place name. Catarratto is parented by the Garganega grape.

I tried the Feudo Montoni Catarratto del Masso at Terroni in Los Angeles. I have mixed feelings about that restaurant. I love the food - and the wine - but they insist on serving their pizza unsliced, as a whole pie. You have to cut it with a knife or rip off a piece. Either way, I always end up with a slice that looks like Florida.

The grapes for the Vigna del Masso - Masso is the name of the cru where they are grown - are raised in iron-rich soil full of sand and rocks. The 55-year-old vines produce grapes which are fermented in cement containers. It checks in with alcohol at 13.5% abv.

I love the nose. A great savory aspect dominates, which my wife says smells like salami. That’s savory enough for me. The  palate leans the same way, with rocks, lime and minerals so strong. A great acidity makes for a wine that’s easy to pair with food. I had mine with the fritatta alla salsiccia. It’s a wine that was seemingly made for eggs and sausage.

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Sicilian Red Wine: Nero D'Avola

The Stemmari winery is located in the western side of Sicily, Italy's island just off the mainland. It's the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. There, indigenous Sicilian grape varieties are grown, like the white Grillo and the red Nero d'Avola.

The farming is sustainable at Stemmari's vineyards, in two sites, Sambuca di Sicilia and Acate. EMAS 2 certified, they achieved the European credential for environmental sustainability and management in 2002. You may recognize a couple of their other brands, Mezzacorona and Rotari.

The Stemmari Nero d’Avola 2015 is a full varietal wine at 13% abv. It reportedly likes the clay earth of Sambuca di Sicilia.  Once used for adding color to wine, Nero d'Avola is as dark as you like, and richly flavored. The wine is aged six months in French oak barriques.

The Stemmari Nero d'Avola is darker than a serious bruise and offers a nose that means just as much business. Black fruit, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, leather, cigars, black olive, mocha - I mean, what do you not smell? It's a downright savory palate, too. Forest floor leaps out with plums and licorice in tow. There is a distinct mineral presence and the tannins work, if they really have to. They aren't going to get up just to make the sip harsh. This rustic wine will fit naturally with pecorino cheese, arancini, eggplant stew or even pasta and sardines. Stemmari recommends a true Sicilian dish, or course, like Spaghetti alla Norma, with eggplant, and smoked ricotta cheese.

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