Alanera Nero D'Avola 2008, Sicily

Your long lost wine reviewer is back! I decided today that I had neglected our (imaginary?) readers enough and, despite wanting a beer when I got home, I opened a bottle of wine. what commitment! Perhaps drinking wine when I wanted a beer is a greater sacrifice than finding the time to write an entry more often than I do? Of course not. Let's face it: I drink wine almost every night and it's been over a month since I've written about one here. Well, no more apologies or promises. I won't even complain about the plastic fake cork that sealed this wine (see how I snuck that in there?).

Let me start by saying I have no idea why Nero D'Avola is not a greater force in the US wine market. These wines often deliver the big fruit that many Americans crave while remaining food friendly and are generally very reasonably priced. Nero D'Avola is the grape variety and the wines are generally from Sicily, though the variety does pop up by itself and in blends in other parts of Southern Italy.

This wine is distributed by Devenish and can be found for about $13 at retail. It is showing bold, plummy fruit on the nose with a little peppery spice and dirt. I'm also picking up a hint of barnyard. Some of the fruit is a bit muddled and stewed, but there is some fairly fresh black cherry accenting the plum. It's also showing a bit of a perfumy, incensy character. On the palate this is fairly bold (medium plus intensity). It starts off just like the nose, but that leads into a midpalate of fresher, more focused fruit flavors which highlight red and black cherries as well as the plum. The finish (medium length) is quite balanced and almost elegant (certainly elegant compared to the attack). I really like the midpalate and finish of this wine as they show more balance and focus than the attack or nose did (not that the attack or nose are an unbalanced mess; they're nice, too). Picking the wine apart like this, I have unfairly failed to mention that it is downright delicious. It's not thought provoking, but I've finished a small glass just writing this review. I would say the wine is good, bordering on very good, but doesn't quite have the complexity for me to say very good. That equals 84+ points in my book, making this a definite buy. I think this wine shows how Nero D'Avola can appeal to those who like fruity New World wines as well as those who like earthy Old World wines. If you're not drinking Nero D'Avola and you like red wine I think you're making a huge mistake. Get out there and try some.