Tag Archives: Sicilian wine

Wine of the week: Cusumano Nero d’Avola 2012

Cusumano Nero d'Avola Two years ago, I wrote: “One day, perhaps, Sicily will take its place as one of the world ?s great wine regions…” and then listed all the horrible things that would happen when it did. Which is mostly what has happened, and the Cusumano Nero d’Avola 2012 ($10, purchased, 14%) demonstrates just that.

Six years ago, when I first tasted Cusumano, few people who weren’t the Italian Wine Guy knew about Sicilian wine. Today, it’s all over the wine magazines, the best Sicilian wines from the Mt. Etna region cost as much as $100, and there is even Sicilian wine made to taste like grocery store merlot.

The Cusumano Nero d’Avola, a red wine made with the nero d’avola grape, has gone down a similar path, from a wine rarely tasted in the U.S. to one imported by one of the most successful American wine marketers. Along the way, the price went up, the wine lost something that made it what it was, and I took it out of the $10 Hall of Fame. I’m not the Wine Curmudgeon for nothing.

But I’ve made my peace with these changes, and two recent tastings, this red and the white Insolia, have restored my faith in the brand. This version of the Cusumano Nero d’Avola isn’t as dark and plummy as previous vintages, but it isn’t as fruity as it was when I tasted it a year ago, either. Bottle age helped restore the balance between the red fruit and its Sicilian earthiness, and I enjoyed the wine. It’s red sauce, pizza with cheese and sausage, and maybe even chicken cacciatore.

It probably won’t return to the Hall of Fame when the 2013 vintage arrives this year, given the price increase, but I’ll buy it and no doubt enjoy it. And that will be enough.

Wine of the week: Planeta La Segreta Bianco 2012

Planeta La Segreta What makes a great cheap wine? First, more quality than the cost. Second, consistency from vintage to vintage, so that quality doesn’t suffer to keep the price down. Third, terroir — does the wine taste like where it came from?

Which is why Sicilian wine has been seen so many times on the blog over the past several years, and why the Segreta red and white blends from La Planeta have so often been part of that. This vintage of the Bianco ($8, purchased, 12.5%) is no exception — it has everything a great cheap wine should have:

? The cost/quality ratio should embarrass other regions (are you listening, California?), with top-notch fruit and professional winemaking that uses the fruit to its best advantage. That means no tricks like fake oak to cover up a flaw.

? This wine, though it doesn’t taste exactly the same as the 2010, is of the same high quality.

? And it does taste of Sicily, with white fruit and citrus, thanks to the island’s grecancio grape, which is half the blend. If this vintage is not as rich as the 2010, it’s fresher and a little more food friendly. It’s grilled seafood and chicken wine, as well as hummus and pitas.

Highly recommended, and a candidate for the 2015 $10 Hall of Fame. I should also note the screwcap, and the very well done back label, which includes the phrase “a great everyday wine.” Would that others were so direct about the wine they make, and not try to convince us that their grocery store merlot is one of the great wines of the world.

Wine of the week: Feudo Zirtari Nero d’Avola-Syrah 2011

Feudo Zirtari Nero d'Avola-Syrah One more reason that Sicilian wine deserves to enter the mainstream — the Zirtari ($12, purchased, 14%), a funky wine that is delicious yet does not seem especially Sicilian. One knows a wine region has found its niche when you can write that about one of its wines.

First, the Zirtari is almost one-half syrah, hardly a grape indigenous to the island. Second, the syrah gives it an almost Rhone-like character, richer (almost fatty) than similarly-priced Sicilian reds. Plus, there isn’t much earthiness, but there is well-balanced black fruit and the particular character that the Sicilian nero d’avola grape adds to a well-made wine.

In all, a wine that is enjoyable, dark, and almost brooding. It’s intense enough for summer barbecue and red meat, but not so heavy, with its 14 percent alcohol, to be be off-putting in hot weather. It was a most pleasant surprise to find when I was looking for something else.

Wine of the week: Cantine Colosi Rosso 2012

Cantine Colosi RossoSicilian wine has made such advances over the past decade that it was only a matter of time until the Wine Curmudgeon found some that weren’t worth buying. You know the kind of wine, one made to take advantage of being trendy, with too much fruit, not enough interest, and an inflated price.

Fortunately, the Cantine Colosi Rosso ($10, purchased, 13%) isn’t one of those. It’s a red blend, mostly nero d’avola, and the kind of wine that has helped make Sicily what it is today. It’s almost certain to go in the $10 Hall of Fame next year, and has been one of the great joys of my wine drinking this summer. Look for juicy, fresh cherry fruit, and drink it by itself (yes, really) or with any kind of grilled food, be it burgers, sausage, or chicken.

The Rosso was missing the Sicilian earthiness that I like and expect, but it didn’t make any difference. This is an Italian wine that’s about fun and happiness and enjoying your food and the people you’re with. The Rosso doesn’t get in the way and doesn’t demand attention the way so many other wines do (and they know who they are). It’s content to complement what you’re eating or what you’re doing, and isn’t that what every great wine is supposed to do, regardless of price? It’s our great luck that this costs $10 and not two or three times that.

Wine of the week: Poggio Anima Uriel 2011

Poggio Anima UrielThe Wine Curmudgeon always tries to find wine that people who don’t drink much wine would like, all part of my goal of spreading the gospel to consumers near and far. So when I saw the Poggio Anima Uriel ($12, purchased, 13%) on the wine list at a Dallas pizza restaurant, I knew I was in business.

Sure enough, the friends we were eating with loved it, including the non-wine drinker in the group. She pronounced it as well done as pinot grigio — score another victory for Sicily and great cheap wine.

The Uriel is a white wine made with grillo, a Sicilian grape used mostly for marsala until the island’s wine renaissance of the past couple of decades. Since then, a variety of producers have turned it into tasty and inexpensive dry wines, and the Uriel is yet another example. Look for enough white fruit to be noticeable, a bit of almond on the nose, and wonderful freshness and balance. This is the kind of wine, after you take the first sip, that you know you’ll want to drink all night.

How enjoyable was the Uriel? So much so that it was close to the highlight of dinner, given that the pizza was — as happens all too often in Dallas — over-hyped to the extreme. My non-drinking friend had an entire glass, which is like the Wine Curmudgeon drinking an entire bottle.

Wine of the week: Purato Catarratto Pinot Grigio 2010

PURATO-CAT-PG-2013-okOne day, no doubt, the Wine Curmudgeon will stop writing about Sicilian wine in gushing, rapturous tones. I just hope it doesn’t happen anytime soon.

The Purato ($7, purchased, 12.5%) is a white blend from Sicily that, once again, offers everything a great cheap wine should. It’s interesting, which means it does more than just shove fruit in your face. It provides ridiculous value, even when it’s not a previous vintage (as this is). And it’s a delight to drink, which means the bottle is empty and an hour has gone by before you realize what has happened, and you’re wondering why you didn’t buy more of this when you had the chance.

Catarratto is a grape native to Sicily that has traditionally been used to make marsala, a sweet dessert wine. It’s increasingly being used to make table wines as part of Sicily’s wine renaissance, and blending it with pinot grigio is just another of those things the Sicilians have done that has turned out better than anyone could have imagined.

Look for lots of white pepper and a little pinot grigio fruit (maybe a lemon drop that isn’t sweet?), and without any of the bitterness or boredom that is the hallmark of too many Italian pinot grigios. This is a seafood or roast chicken wine, or even something to drink when you want a glass of wine and you don’t want to be bothered by any wine foolishness. Highly recommended, and if this isn’t in the 2014 $10 Hall of Fame, I should skip doing it.

Mini-reviews 53: Epicuro, La Granja, Turning Leaf, Line 39

Reviews of wines that don ?t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month. This month, in honor of the U.S. budget mess, some really cheap wine:

? Epicuro Nero d’Avola 2012 ($6, purchased, 12.5%): This Trader Joe’s red tastes almost exactly like California merlot, with lots and lots of black fruit and not much else. This is the international style of winemaking at its best (or worst, depending on your point of view).

? La Granja Tempranillo 2012 ($4, purchased, 13%): This Spanish red, also from Trader Joe’s, is a very simple wine that is more tempranillo-like than tempranillo. Lots of cherry fruit and acid, but they aren’t balanced; rather, they cancel each other out. Probably worth $4, but better wine doesn’t cost that much more.

? Turning Leaf Chardonnay NV ($8, sample, 12.5%): Offers quality and value, in the way that its pinot noir did during this summer’s cheap pinot tasting, though it’s more varietally correct. Fresh with a little green apple, and very little fake oak. A simple wine does not mean a stupid wine.

? Line 39 Chardonnay 2011 ($10, purchased, 13.5%): Fairly typical grocery store chardonnay in the late 20th-century style, with green apple fruit and more fake oak than I like. Nothing really wrong with it if you like this kind of wine.