~ Etna spews smoke over vineyards on Sicily ~
The Don, The Don……
“Forgive, forget. Life is full of great misfortunes……”
The subject of today’s article is a wine bottled by what would amount to a Sicilian negociant; Don Tomasi SRL. It was unknown to me and there was no importer named on the back of the bottle. The retailer I bought the wine from had it labeled “Direct from the Vineyard” and since I trust the Italian Wine Buyer, I gave it a shot. Hell, it was only $15.
~ The vineyards of Don Tomasi are devoted mainly to Nero d’Avola but Cabernet and Grillo are also grown ~
Subsequent to tasting this wine, I’ve determined that it’s available at several retailers across the country so I’m not too sure what is meant by “Direct from the Vineyard”. At any rate, I was rather impressed with this wine.
The 2015 Don Tomasi Nero d’Avola Cabernet blend is an attractive wine that is well made but not exactly stylistically precise. Deep violet in color, the wine offers plentiful aromas of black plums, licorice, dried herbs, toasted vanilla and a distinct salinity that is pleasing. The blend is 70% Cabernet and 30% Nero d’Avola so I’m certain the former is dominating the latter.
On the palate, the wine is fresh and lively with toasted oak, vanilla and cake spices backing the black plum fruit that is tinged with dried herbs. It drinks well without food, but paired equally well with pizza and meatballs. I enjoyed it but I didn’t contemplate it much and that’s ok. It was also enjoyed by 3 other people that were around the table. No complaints other than a lack of tipicity so perhaps there’s a touch of irony that it appears in an article entitled “Heritage”. 88 points and a pretty nice value around $14. Find this wine.
~ This wine is 70% Cabernet and 30% Nero d’Avola. Very tasty, if more international in style ~
Stay tuned. There’s more coming from this heritage series. Salute!
