Peter van den Besselaar

9.0

Vintage 2016 | — 2 years ago

Peter Sultan

9.0

Part 1 of a Columbia county weekend w/friends: a surprisingly rs leaning Sicilian white- accent on the white flowers & fruit, lower on acid. Never tasted this varietal. Rather a broad mouthfeel that went well w local charcuterie, cheese, & jaw dropping tomato salad w garden basil. This vintner makes also a spry Nero D’Avola. — 4 years ago

with Owen

Philip Dobrin

9.0

Perfect pizza wine. Actually works with something more serious but works very well with wood fired or coal fired pizza — 5 years ago

Owain Jones

9.1

Very smooth, one of the smoothest we have tasted. Glass tasted at aan de Poel, Amsterdam with beef, cépe and celeriac — 6 years ago

Rob Worthington-Kirsch

9.5

Very smooth. — 6 years ago

Mallory

9.3

light summery red – we really enjoyed this — 7 years ago

Jody Wycech

9.2

A delicious primitivo. Paired well with some Italian food (pasta, wine, can’t remember). Is good, would have ‘gan — 3 years ago

with Ethan, Peter and 1 other

Jonas Johansson

9.1

Delish with grilled lamb — 5 years ago

Tina Penman

10

Spicy light delish. My taste buds have also been dulled by a recent virus but it does taste spicy to me — 5 years ago

Angelo Casagrande

9.1

Big and rich with a bit of oak. Fruity- plums and blackberry and some pepper. Tannins were smooth and the wine had such a full, round feel. Excellent. — 6 years ago

Marcus Caple

9.0

Right up there for me. Lovely soft but dry palate which had a really well rounded flavour and good depth. £11 from a deli — 6 years ago

Karoline Elgesem

9.5

Good drinking wine. — 7 years ago

Briana Levine

9.0

Dry, buttery minerals — 7 years ago

Eric

9.2

Very fruity in a good way. Another great Italian deal. 🤔 have to check out more of these — 4 years ago

Stephanie

8.9

At Paige’s, Sweet 27 only. — 4 years ago

Alf Aguirre

8.9

Excelente vino, muy suave y un aroma extraordinario, lo mejor, el precio. Muy recomendado — 5 years ago

Tom Frymire

8.9

Nice dry red from Sicily. Very happy! — 5 years ago

Alice Graulty

9.0

Mostly smooth, some sweet but also dry. Slight tannin finish, but not much. Good with cheese. — 6 years ago

with Corinne

Jennifer Lerner

8.9

Strong blackberry notes. Smoothe finish — 7 years ago

Isaac Pirolo

9.3

Apparently Tasting Note Tuesday
is now a thing (thanks for the heads up @Greg Ballington). That said, I’m still an advocate of everyday of the week, but I’ll participate nonetheless.

A wine such as this requires serious research. Fortunately Ian D’Agata’s notes in Vinous are indispensable: “Feudo Montoni’s greatest wine is the Nero d’Avola Vrucara, a single vineyard wine made from roughly 80-100 year-old vines that grow at 500 meters above sea level. Most of the vines are of pre-phylloxera origin, and are therefore ungrafted. The vineyard’s name derives from the Sicilian word vruca, a local herb that grows in the vineyards and exudes aromas of menthol and incense. The Vrucara vineyard is especially beautiful, a field of gnarly, very thick trunked and low-lying bush vines hugging the dark mainly clay soils (with a little loam and sand). Vinification is... very traditional... At its best, Vrucara is a benchmark Nero d’Avola, eschewing the vanilla notes of more modern interpretations of Nero d’Avolas, while offering multilayered violet, blueberry, macerated red cherries in alcohol, tar and spicy aromas and flavors, with a characteristic hint of eucalyptus and incense.”

The 2012 doesn’t veer off course. Benefits from an hour open, but a few would be ideal. A mashup of spiced cherry and blackberry is hard to miss, but the floral, earthen, and leather entanglement is the attraction here and clearly terroir driven. There’s a noticeable clay pot and smoked meat component which beautifully emphasizes how old world this wine really is. The oak treatment is evident, but the wine is also able to withstand a fair amount and still proudly carry its old world card. — 7 years ago