Browse Tag

nero d’avola

Siccagno & shut up

Occhipinti 2009 Nero d’Avola “Siccagno” (Sicily) – Everyone has their dirty secrets, and here’s mine: a plurality of the time, I prefer this wine to her frappato. Why such heresy? Because this one is almost never intrusively volatile, and because the occasionally-present hint of brett (in both wines) melds better with nero d’avola than it does with frappato. (In fact, I usually prefer her Tami frappato to her eponymous one, and for similar reasons.) But enough about the wine that this isn’t. What about the wine that it is? The very transparency that makes the frappato – oh dear, here I go again – so compelling is what’s brought to this often-opaque grape, to its great benefit. It’s still a big, muscular, dark, powerdy-dirt wine…but that’s not all it is. Frankly, it’s a work of somewhat mad genius, or (perhaps more appropriately given the personality of the winemaker) wickedly joyous genius. Is it the “best” nero d’avola one could ever have? Probably not, but mind: a good part of it’s appeal is that it’s not trying to be, either. (8/12)

Myrina Sirtis

Buceci 2010 Nero d’Avola “Myrina” (Sicily) – Chewy and just a bit wild, as if the grapes couldn’t quite be wrestled into politesse. Fiercely dark, of course, with a fair bit of prominent (rather than lush) structure for a sun-drenched southern red, though of course there’s more tannin than acidity. Rocks and dark, dark soils…or perhaps charred old-growth forests…as well. I don’t expect much from this wine, and as a result it somewhat exceeds my expectations. (7/12)

Cusumano y mano

Cusumano 2009 Nero d’Avola (Sicily) – Perspiration fruit under black light, dark bluish-purple, with smoked walnuts in neon-like ultraviolet. Very straightforward wine that probably requires something that was very recently bloody, but good in that idiom. (5/12)

Jo bleo

[vineyard]Gulfi 2007 Nero d’Avola “Rossojbleo” (Sicily) – Dark, and not just in terms of fruit (which is extremely dense), but also minerality and general mood. I think I taste black ash soil here, but that could just be the power of suggestion; I’m sure, however, that the soil component is significant. The wine’s heavy, to be sure, and neither traditional nor thoroughly modern. It’s probably not for everyone, but neither is it some individualistic outlier. I’d like to give it some time in the cellar, to see what happens, but the synthetic cork prevents that. (8/09)

My kind of town, Siccagno is

Occhipinti 2006 “Siccagno” Nero d’Avola (Sicily) – Fecal. Crystalline black raspberry soda, with an earthy texture later on. It’s a “pretty” wine, despite the funk, and I like it a great deal, though I wouldn’t serve it to the brett-averse. (4/09)

Wolf whistle

[grapes]COS 2005 “Nuro di Lupo” Nero d’Avola (Sicily) – Smells like Sicily. Not the dirty part, but the rich, everything-grows-wild-everywhere countryside, with a deep foundation and a swaggering black minerality layered with berries, leaves, and more rich soil. Beautiful. (9/08)

Cusuman-a-mano

[bottle]Cusumano 2005 Nero d’Avola (Sicily) – A solid wall of dark, tannic fruit (the former dominating the latter) and then…well, nothing. Nothing at all. Just that immense, oppressive density, signifying nothing. Age might help, but I’m not hopeful. (2/08)

Nero fiddled

Occhipinti 2006 Siccagno Nero d’Avola (Sicily) – Fennel fronds, crumbled tar, pomegranate, and layers of soil. I’ve never tasted anything like this. But we’re not done, either; there’s espresso bean, licorice, and gorgeous black fruit as well. Fascinating. Every time I go back to the glass, there’s something else to discover. This may have the best acid balance of any wine I’ve ever tasted, which gives the wine a soda-like intensity of tactility that marries perfectly with the rich tapestry of aromatics. It practically buzzes with electricity. Beautiful. Just beautiful. (1/08)