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WINE OF THE WEEK: Nero Oro Grillo Appassimento Sicilia 2019, Italy

Jan 28

WINE OF THE WEEK: Nero Oro Grillo Appassimento Sicilia 2019, Italy

£8.99/£9.99, Majestic Winemakers in southern Italy have been using the appassimento tecnique to make their red wines smoother and more concentrated, but a white given the treatment is a rarity. Perhaps it won’t be once more producers taste this Sicilian Grillo – a mouthwatering riot of passion fruit, candied grapefruit peel, pineapple, dried pear and spiced apricot, with succulent texture and pivotal acidity. The man behind the wine is the ever-creative Stefano Girelli, who h

WINE OF THE WEEK: Santa Tresa Rina Russa Frappato 2019, Terre Siciliane, Italy

Nov 26, 2020

WINE OF THE WEEK: Santa Tresa Rina Russa Frappato 2019, Terre Siciliane, Italy

£9.99–£10.75, Ocado, Vintage Roots I recommended an earlier incarnation of this organic wine a few years ago as a perfect spring red. In August this year, in searing heat, I had the 2019 and thought it was the ideal summer red. I've just had it again on a dark, chilly November evening and come to the conclusion that it's a delicious all-seasons red. With its gem-bright, pale colour and medium body, it doesn't have that hearty winter look, but trades it for suppleness, freshne

Inspiring island wines: reds from Sicily and Sardinia

Aug 22, 2018

Inspiring island wines: reds from Sicily and Sardinia

Update, September 4, 2018: the Etna Rosso and Barbazzale are now out of stock, so the mixed case is no longer available, but the rest of the wines are, as is the Etna Bianco that was my wine of the week. The offer runs until Sunday September 9. I've added a food note to the Frappato. This week's Wine of the Week is an Etna Bianco, made from indigenous grape varieties grown in the mineral-laden volcanic soils of Mount Etna at 700–750m. It's on The Wine Society's main list but

WINE OF THE WEEK: Nicosia Fondo Filara Etna Bianco 2017, Etna, Sicily, Italy

Aug 16, 2018

WINE OF THE WEEK: Nicosia Fondo Filara Etna Bianco 2017, Etna, Sicily, Italy

£12.50, The Wine Society This mouthwatering, mineral dry white combines two of my enthusiasms: wines from volcanic soils and island wines. They come together on the slopes of Etna as they do on the Greek island of Santorini, but Etna has its own grape varieties, red as well as white. The whites are steered by the high-quality, late-ripening Carricante, filled out here with Sicily’s most widely planted white, Catarratto, both planted at 700–750m. Aside from the mineral charact

WINE OF THE WEEK: Zensa Nero d’Avola 2013

Oct 29, 2015

WINE OF THE WEEK: Zensa Nero d’Avola 2013

£10.50, Oddbins, oddbins.com Love the retro label, love the wine - a full-on, spicy, cherry-scented red that will go down a treat (as they say) on Halloween or bonfire night and equally well on a more formal occasion. It's made from vines grown without chemical pesticides or fertilizers, hence both the name Zensa, the Italian pronunciation of sensa, the word for 'without', and the liberal sprinkling of organico, vino biologico and agricultura biologica across the label. Nero