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.

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.