£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, freshness and mouthwatering wild strawberry fruit with an undertow of raspberry, white pepper and bitter cherry. The key is the local Frappato grape and in particular a clone developed on the Santa Tresa estate, just a few kilometres from the sea in Vittoria, south-east Sicily.
Locally, Frappato is drunk a lot with tuna and swordfish, but it also goes well with roast tomatoes, peppers, aubergine, courgettes, shallots and cauliflower, with lemony/herby chicken, pork tonnato, pizza and salmon, and I've enjoyed it with the hard-to-match Rocamadour goat's cheese accompanied by a walnut salad. And, of course, it's a red that can be drunk without food. 13.5%.
If you want a bigger, darker red, try Santa Tresa's Cerasuolo di Vittoria 2018 and I also highly recommend the estate's white, Rina Ianca Grillo Viognier 2019.
Santa Tresa Rina Russa Frappato 2019, Terre Siciliane, Italy
£9.99, Ocado; £10.08, Drinks & Co; £10.75, Vintage Roots, £11.70, Rodney Fletcher Vintners