If Sicily were a free-standing nation (which, on occasion, it seems to believe that it is), it would rank seventh in worldwide wine production, at around 160 million gallons a year. Though it is only one of 20 Italian winemaking regions, it produces 15 percent of all Italian wine.
Long a supplier of bulk blending wines to Italy’s mainland (and other European countries), the island of Sicily has taken on fully the mid-20th century risorgimento (resurgence) in Italian winemaking and, since the 1980s, has shifted from making heavy, rustic wines to those that are lighter and more suited to contemporary tastes. It’s also become a solid exporter of its wines to the world.
While Sicily is surprisingly well respected for its white wines, for so warm a growing region, two of its red grapes garner more attention: one, nero d’Avola, because it is the mainstay or engine of Sicilian red winemaking and the other, nerello mascalese, because it is turning heads.
“I really love (nerello mascalese),” says Rachel Driver Speckan, wine education and beverage director at City Winery Chicago, “and the producers who are taking the time to make it and bring it to market are really exceptional.”
Nerello mascalese “is difficult to make,” Speckan says. “It takes patience and conscientiousness both to grow and to make.” But, she adds, “It is simply amazing.”
A tasting of just under two dozen nero d’Avola and nerello mascalese wines showed this. The nero d’Avola wines were, by and large, solid and well-made, if a bit monochromatic. But it was at the table of nerello mascalese wines that people lingered and repeatedly tasted.
Avola is a small town south of Syracuse (Siracusa) along Sicily’s eastern shore and, although few grapes grow around it now, it lent its name to its indigenous “black” (nero) grape. Nero d’Avola spread throughout the island, and you can safely guess that nearly any red wine coming from Sicily that has no other grape name on the label is made of all or mostly nero d’Avola.
Nerello (“the little black one”) mascalese gets the second half of its name from the Mascali plain east of Mount Etna, Sicily’s famed — and still active — volcano. Whereas nearly 50,000 acres of nero d’Avola grow on Sicily, only 9,000 acres of nerello mascalese thrive (although that is increasing by the year).
Nerello mascalese “is a mountain wine,” says Speckan — almost all of it grows on Etna’s slopes, sometimes as high as 1,000 meters — “and so it’s cool-climate, with high acidity and a dark skin tone.”
“Even though it may reach high ripeness,” she says, “it can still be very tart. There’s this nice balance between ripeness and acidity; it’s very vivacious, like a (red) Burgundy but more fun.”
Nerello’s dark red fruit is marked by a characteristic “smoldering, cindery quality,” Speckan says. “You cannot separate it from its terroir (Etna’s lava), and that is its giveaway when you taste it.”
Food pairings for nerello mascalese are, according to Speckan, right down the Sicilian buffet. “Olives, pickled or brined vegetables, cured meats,” Speckan lists. “It’s one of the few red wines to go with fish, especially tuna, raw or cooked. I love it with roasted mushrooms and all that earthy funkiness that’s the same in the wine. Or with duck or goose or richer, earthy fowl. And with (cured) ham, like jamon Iberico, it’s perfect.”
Here are a few recommended nero d’Avola and nerello mascalese wines, listed by ascending price. All are appellation Sicily, Italy or Terre Siciliane Rosso.
• 2012 Cantina Cellaro Nero d'Avola Luma: Nothing serious here, just pure ease and deliciousness; fantastic price for roundly, charmingly delivered red fruit. $12-$14
• 2012 Benanti Nerello Mascalese Rosso di Verzella: Lots of dark cherry-like fruit accented with eucalyptus and cocoa; just gulpable and refreshing. $16-$22
• 2009 Valle dell'Acate Cerasuolo di Vittoria: A vibrantly fruity and light red wine unique to Sicily, a blend of 60 percent nero d'Avola and 40 percent indigenous frappato; gorgeous strawberry come-hithers. $20-$24
• 2010 Benanti Nerello Mascalese Rovittello: The more serious and earthy of the winery's nerello wines, aged in barrel. $35
• 2011 Morgante Nero d'Avola Don Antonio: Ups the ante on nero d'Avola's regularly plain-spoken dark red fruit, adding hints of licorice and cocoa, abundant yet plush tannins and a nice, chewy texture. $42
• 2010 Tascante Nerello Mascalese Terza Vendemmia: It's steep on the price, but you do get abundant fruit, juice-inducing texture and a whiff of earth. $44-$48
• 2013 Frank Cornelissen Nerello Mascalese "MunJebel": One of the new voices of nerello, a naturalist, leaving the wine close to making itself; gets the head shaking after a sip because you feel as if you've just drunk from the earth itself; fruit, yes, but truly liquid terroir. $48
• 2013 Frank Cornelissen Nerello Mascalese "MunJebel VA": From his highest (Vigne Alte) vineyards on Etna; smoke, cinders, black earth, graphite and black pepper lace dark red fruit, leathery tannins and whip-snap acidity on the finish. $75
Footnote: I was sent some samples of nero d’Avola and nerello mascalese wines by the Barone Montalto winery in Sicily. The wines are marvelous but, sad to say, less than 0.5 percent of Montalto’s production is sold in the U.S., according to its own informational materials, so I cannot recommend its wines. However, if and when it makes its way here, be sure to snap up a bottle of either or both Barone Montalto Nero d’Avola Appassimento (in the mode of a ripasso wine from Veneto) or the blend of nero d’Avola, nerello mascalese, cabernet sauvignon and merlot called Barone Montalto Ammasso.
If your wine store does not carry these wines, ask for one similar in style and price.
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