Feudo Maccari Saia 2007 Nero d'Avola IGT Sicilia

Dark purple color, opaque.

Smells of plum, prune, black cherry, and oak.

Vigorous rich dry plum fruit, oak becomes more apparent in the long food-friendly finish, which is also a bit bitter, also smooth, and silky (and fast and bulbous, but that's another story).

Very good full-bodied bottle for $36.99. The biggest (and the best) Nero d'Avola I've yet tasted.

Firriato 2007 Grillo Sicilia Altavilla Della Corte

Grillo is a grape often used in Marsala, a wine most often used in cooking chicken or veal but this is simply a rarely-seen IGT-labelled Sicilian Grillo.

Very pale straw color, some petillance.

Smell of apple and melon.

Dry flavors of apple melon and orange peel.

Good bottle for $14.40; a light-bodied wine that won't overpower very delicate food.

I'm not sure how significant is is, but grillo is Italian for grasshopper.

Messapicus 2005 Nero d'Avola

Dark purple-red color.

Dark stone-fruit smells, cedar and leather.

Very fruity flavor, blackberry and plum, seems sweet at first.

Good bottle for $16.99. From time to time it does seem too sweet, but on further consideration, that's just fruitiness, which is a good thing. I keep telling myself that.

There is noticeable sediment in the bottle, but it seems compact and it seems to stay put until I rinse the empty bottle.

Firriato 2006 Nero d'Avola Chiaramonte

A few days ago I posted notes on the 2005 example.

I aerated this and let it rest for most of a day after opening.

Medium-dark red color, maybe a bit darker than the 2005.

Plum/prune smell with a lot of oak and a minty note I didn't detect in the previous vintage.

Black cherry/plum fruit flavor, like the 2006 food-friendly with acid, oak taste only surfaces at the end along with that mint I smelled.

With another day of rest, the minty smell and flavor blows clean off.

While I continue to believe this is a good buy for $17.99, I understand it's changing distributors and that price and availability will change.

Firriato 2005 Nero d'Avola Chiaramonte

I aerated this and let it rest for a day after opening. I think I'll make this my default practice for young reds, except perhaps for unoaked lightweight Beaujolais and such.

In February I posted notes on the Morgante 2006 Nero d'Avola and said I wanted to try more examples.

Medium-dark red color.

Plum/prune smell with a lot of oak.

Black cherry/plum fruit flavor, food-friendly with acid, oak taste only surfaces at the end.

Feels like a fair buy for $17.99. I like this considerably better than I did the Morgante.

This is my only bottle of 2005, but I have two of the 2006. Notes on that will soon follow.

Morgante 2006 Sicilia Nero d'Avola

I aerated this vigorously before drinking.

Medium dark red color.

Prune and black cherry smells, black pepper and oak.

Ripe black cherry flavor, plum, something spicy, maybe cinnamon?

Mostly harmless. Tangy acid makes it a nice accompaniment for a pasta/tomato/romano dinner.

For $16.99, I probably would not buy again, but I might seek out some more Nero d'Avola.