This sub-$25 wine comes from the Montoni estate near Cammarata, in the heart of Sicily. The vineyard elevation ranges from 450-750m, and the fermentation and malolactic conversion happen entirely in cement tanks. The single-vineyard wine is called Vrucara, has a gold label, and costs $50-60.

This wine didn’t taste anything like the Nero d’Avolas that I had tried before. I recalled inky wines with black fruit and cassis syrup, and broad oak and vanilla flavor from barrel ageing. This was on the lighter side of medium ruby, had a ‘fruits of the forest’ flavor profile, and very mild tannins that provided a pleasant, astringent finish.

While I was drinking this wine, I kept thinking that it tasted like Barbera. As I knew from my time in Piedmont that Barbera could be a “pizza wine” or a mind-blowing, serious drink depending on the quality of grapes and the ambitions of the winemaker. So I was chuffed to read that Federico Curtaz of Fessina (with experience in both Piedmont and Sicily) joked that “Barbera is the Nero d’Avola of the North.”

I enjoyed this wine immensely, so I’m going to have to try the Vrucara when my wife and I are in Sicily. It would taste incredible with a wide variety of dishes.

WINE KNOW: Nero d’Avola (the black wine from Avola, a city on Sicily’s southeastern coast) is the 2nd-most planted variety in Sicily after the white Catarratto. It is generally a ruby-colored, high acid wine that bursts with fresh red and black berries. That said, wine styles vary considerably: some (like this wine) are light in color and luscious and fruity with no signs of oak and fine, medium tannins; many more are treated like a New World Cabernet Sauvignon and are much darker and bigger. Nero d’Avola also plays the primary role in Sicily’s only DOCG – Cerasuolo di Vittoria (the cherry-colored wine from Vittoria, a city on Sicily’s southern coast).

THE CRITICS: This wine has consistently garnered scores of 90-92 from the leading critics. The 2019 got 92 from Wines & Spirits, 91 from Wine Enthusiast, and 91 from Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate.

From W&S: “Fabio Sireci culls fruit for this wine from 35-year-old vines propagated from his ancient Vrucara plot. He ages it primarily in cement tanks, accentuating the aromas of pink petals, balsamic herbs and fresh raspberries. Those fresh red-berry and wild-herb flavors create a bold and buoyant expression of nero d’Avola that reflects Sireci’s wind-blown, high-elevation vineyards in central Sicily.