Nero d'Avola in the McLaren Vale

Beautiful picture of the fermentation amphora. It looks like they are outside, but I suppose the ground and season protect them from over-heating or -cooling. I wonder if the vessels are disinterred for racking, or if the new wine is pumped out.
 
"Nero is capable of producing tremendously complex wine..."

I've not had the Cos "Pithos" (I don't think; I've had the black label one, but there was confusion at the time regarding production process), but "tremendously complex" seems like an audacious claim about Nero d'Avola.
 
originally posted by chaad thomas:
"Nero is capable of producing tremendously complex wine..."

I've not had the Cos "Pithos" (I don't think; I've had the black label one, but there was confusion at the time regarding production process), but "tremendously complex" seems like an audacious claim about Nero d'Avola.
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This means that you don't know what you are talking about.

Try Rosso del Conte '83 from Tasca d'Almerita. Try COS Scyri '01 (the Pithos has Frappato in it, btw).

One of the aspects that is so notable about Nero d'Avola is that it can combine earthy minerailty with a perfumed quality on the palate.

Maybe you should try a couple of the best before you dismiss the potential.
 
The main thing with nero d'avola is the grow it in a place where it does not overripen and to mind its farming so it winds up with enough healthy, free-run extract to avoid being a one-dimensional, primary-fruit-only wine. Which is not an unusual situation in warm-climate wine growing, but with nero d'avola the dividing line is a bright one. The vine can give satisfying but heavy, simple wine more or less with ease. This tempts most people to settle for the good but nothing-special nero d'avola. And in lesser and hotter vineyards, that's what will come of it in the best case.

Yet nero d'avola also gives pretty great wine when it gets the treatment it prefers in the vineyard. This part it's important to remember. This is a first-rate vine for wine, and it should not be damned because people can and do make simple wine from it. Great wine vines tend to share this characteristic. It appears southern Italy still has some marketing to do.

Levi seems to have a pipeline to old wine from large-scale operations. Who would have bottles of 25-year-old Regaleali stored on purpose, outside of Sicily?

Not to say doing the experiment isn't worthwhile if you have the space. But why recommend something people can't find when COS and Occhipinti have beautiful wines to sell that in theory one might find?

But then he does recommend a COS, doesn't he? Maybe it's the odd name dropping that's distracting. Don't get me wrong, I think Regaleali in its various forms is admirable wine, generally priced sort of rationally, which is an important point. Habituating to $35 nero d'avola or anything else isn't possible for most people. So producers with less-expensive versions should be welcomed. The incantations of antique examples of this and the Rubesco from another thread strike me as sort of off their subjects - things amusing as anecdotes that do not really jibe with the standard use of the products. Which is fine. Never mind.
 
originally posted by Mr. Doghead:
25-year-old Regaleali
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Thanks to LD, I had a remarkable '83 when it was about 25 years old. Remarkable enough that I brought the empty bottle home to put up on a shelf. This is not something I do.

So if you're discussing "potential," it is important to consider the best examples.

I'm persuaded.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Mr. Doghead:
25-year-old Regaleali
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Thanks to LD, I had a remarkable '83 when it was about 25 years old. Remarkable enough that I brought the empty bottle home to put up on a shelf. This is not something I do.

So if you're discussing "potential," it is important to consider the best examples.

I'm persuaded.
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Me too. Note, '83 Rosso del Conte was a very good not-expensive wine back when I drank mine long, long ago. There was nothing to suggest it would not age well. It just did not occur to me to send it off to storage given its price and ready availability. It's not what I would consider one of the best examples of the variety, but it's sweet to know it thrived in storage.

Note, I don't find more recent examples as compelling as the ones from the '80s from that producer. Why they might have diminished in quality I don't know. Last I saw that bottling it was still worthwhile wine, but they were in a really good groove through the '80s.

In any case, in the current expanded-opportunity environment I would be more inclined to cellar other wines, and to recommend other wines as leading examples.

Not to say I would not be very happy to review that '83. You know I'm always up for drinking wines that have improbable age on them, or that come from places we don't usually find, or whatever.So long as it's not nasty tasting. I guess I mean I always happy to taste. Drinking is another step.
 
I said the '83 because I think that Rosso del Conte has diminished in quality since the late 90s, and because the '83 is startlingly good. Examples from the 70s less so (dunzo).
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
Gulfi Nerosanlore
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That is some crazy stuff.

I really don't cellar Nero d'Avola, or at least I haven't.
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What happened to "nzj" at the end ? The twitter version ?

Isn't that from largely sandy soils? Is that a good thing then?
 
originally posted by .sasha:
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
Gulfi Nerosanlore
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That is some crazy stuff.

I really don't cellar Nero d'Avola, or at least I haven't.
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What happened to "nzj" at the end ? The twitter version ?

Isn't that from largely sandy soils? Is that a good thing then?
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In the old days, actually including 2001, it was Nerosanlorenzj, but now they are labelling it Nerosanlore', I believe.

Sandy soils are great if you if you are looking for old vines that have avoided killer pests.
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
Sandy soils are great if you if you are looking for old vines that have avoided killer pests.
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Thank you, I did not know that.

2001 was (is?) one hell of a wine, which I was never able to hold on to for longer than a few days.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
COS Scyri '01
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What's the scoop on this?
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The scoop is that it is a benchmark Nero d'Avola from fruit sourced from near Ragusa, and that it is awesome.

The '00 was really nice about 2 years ago, but then started to fall apart. The 2001 (in the squat bottle for the first vintage) was more structered than the '00 and drinking quite well the last time I checked, which unfortunately was awhile ago now.

COS actually makes several straight Nero d'Avola bottlings. The Scryi would be closer in style to Gulfi's Nerosanlore' than Gulfi's Nerobufaleffi.
 
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