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Picking the wine on a date is your job. If you're at an Italian restaurant, you know that wines starting with the letter "b" -- barolo, brunello, barbaresco -- are supposed to be great, but they're also pricey. For the sake of your palate and your wallet, it's time to meet another Italian grape. If you like dark, dry, spicy, tannic -- and affordable -- wines, consider a Nero d'Avola from Sicily.
In the past, this grape was mixed with other varietals and associated with syrupy sweet sludge. The Rapitala Nuhar 2003 is indeed a blend -- 70 percent Nero d'Avola (aged in stainless steel) and 30 percent cabernet sauvignon (aged nine months in oak barrels). It's not too sugary: There's a dry spicy quality in the first sip, followed by a wave of berries and flavors of dried raisin and dried plum.
The Donnafugata Sedara 2004 has an earthier nose, and this wine is tarter and saltier. It is the youngest wine of the three featured here and, not surprisingly, the most tannic -- almost puckering. Roughly 70 percent was aged in glass-lined cement tanks and the other 30 percent in oak. The Spadina 2002 was the most appealing wine of this selection, with its candy-like aroma and a terrific balance of berry fruit, slight oak, tannic structure and velvet texture.
So what's the ideal meal to try this new wine? Well, all three pair well with meats: lamb, beef, big game. That's not a huge surprise considering that Nero d'Avola is said to be genetically related to syrah -- a carnivore's dream vino.
-- James Oliver Cury
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