The Wine Pair Podcast

Italian Wine Adventure #20: Nero d’Avola!

• The Wine Pair • Season 1 • Episode 195

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Known as the King of Sicily, Nero d’Avola is a wine that can be very approachable and fruity, and might just be the wine that you need to serve your friends and family who have not found a wine they like yet. Historically used as a blending grape, sometimes called a ghost grape and “medicine wine” by the French, Nero d’Avola was added to blends to add structure and alcohol. But today, it is finding its legs as a standalone varietal. If you or someone you love is a fancy wine drinker, they will probably not love Nero d’Avola, but if you want a casual cookout or party wine, Nero d’Avola may do the trick. Listen in to learn more about this most famous of Sicilian wines, and see if it might be something you want to try. We also talk to another listener to get their tribe name for the week, and we learn about a brazen wine heist in our Wine in the News This Week section. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2023 Purato Nero d’Avola, 2022 Planeta La Segreta Nero D'Avola

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Show Notes

Episode #195: Italian Wine Adventure #20: Nero d’Avola!  00:00

A hearty hello to our Wine Pair Cluster! And welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime, Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair!

If you are new to our podcast, here is what you can expect. If you love wine and want to find great wines at affordable prices, and you want to expand your wine horizons, and you want to have some laughs and fun while doing it - then you are in the right place! Each week we explore a different wine varietal, style, brand, or region of the winemaking world, and learn about what makes them worth knowing about. And then we taste 2-3 of those wines that are reasonably priced to let you know if they are worth your hard earned money. If that feels like your vibe, then we are super happy you are here. And, we are proud to say that Decanter Magazine calls us fun, irreverent, chatty, and entertaining.

Carmela, we are going on another Italian Wine Adventure this week to taste and review a wine that we are somewhat familiar with, because it is a pretty well known and easy to find Italian wine, but is not one that often lands on our dinner table for reasons we will explore later. Nero d’Avola comes from the island of Sicily, which is an Italian adventure we have not had yet but definitely is on our bucket list. Nero d’Avola is often called the King of Sicily because it is the most widely planted red grape in Sicily, is the most widely known wine from Sicily, and because the vast majority of Nero d’Avola acreage in Italy is in Sicily - nearly 98%. So, first of all, this is an Italian wine you need to know and that you will see on wine lists in Italian restaurants, and if you are going on a trip to Sicily, you really, really need to know it.

But, we have a couple of things to do before we get to Nero d’Avola, and the first is to talk to listener Chris who gave us the name for our tribe this week, so let’s head on over to talk to Chris. . .

Interview with listener Chris 03:09

It was so great to talk to Chris, and great to talk to a member of the tribe in our own back yard! It turns out Chris lives pretty close to us, and really close to your brother, so we may see him at the grocery store!

And, Carmela, we love doing these interviews because we love meeting you all, and because it gives us the chance to get to know you and hear you talk for a change! Please keep sending us tribe name ideas and we will ask you if you are interested in joining us for a little interview. It’s fun and mostly painless, we promise. Just reach out to us via Instagram or email at joe@thewinepairpodcast.com

By the way, big news, and those of you who are on our email newsletter list know this, but we are going to do a virtual wine tasting this month for anyone who wants to join us, so send us a note at joe@thewinepairpodcast.com and we’ll give you the deets - it will be a super fun way for us to get to know you, you get to meet other folks who listen in, and compare tasting notes. It will be lots of fun including some games, so we really hope you’ll join us! Currently, we are planning on doing it on December 18th at 5:30 PM Pacific.

Alright, we promise that we are going to talk about Nero d’Avola in a few minutes. However, before we break down just what Nero d’Avola is and why it is an Italian wine you need to know, we have to share with you some breaking news, so, yes friends, it is time for  . . .

WIne in the news this week: Virginia Restaurant Falls Victim to Brazen Wine Heist 09:33



Alright, Carmela, the wine in the news story this week comes to us from the very same state we have been doing our recent series of winemaker’s stories from - the Commonwealth of Virginia. The title of the article, which we have a link to along with several others on the same topic in our show notes which you can get by going to our website and looking for this episode, was written by Debbie Williams and published in Northern Virginia magazine and is entitled: Virginia Restaurant Falls Victim to Brazen Wine Heist.

The robbery happened a couple of weeks ago at a very high end restaurant called  L’Auberge Provençale located in Boyce, Virginia. Here’s what happened: a couple walked in posing as "event planners" for a wealthy Canadian businesswoman.

The woman part of the couple was a well dressed middle aged woman with a very proper British accent who told the staff her name was "Stephanie Baker" and that she works for a client who wants to throw a lavish dinner party at the restaurant. Her partner is described as wearing a long trench coat and—I kid you not—a "bushy gray toupee" and thick glasses. 

In the course of the conversation, they ask for a tour of the wine cellar to check the "climate control" for their boss. Christian Borel, the owner of the restaurant, takes them down, and once in the cellar, the woman starts firing questions at Borel to keep him occupied.

While she is distracting Borel, her "husband" in the trench coat goes to work. This is kind of crazy, but it turns out his coat had specifically designed secret pockets sewn into the lining. She’s talking, and he starts slipping bottles of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, the most expensive wine in the world worth like $24,000 a bottle, into his coat.

Now, the owner starts to figure out that something is wrong as they finish their conversation and start to leave the cellar, because he notices the guy is walking stiff like a robot. He literally cannot bend or turn because his coat is stuffed with bottles. The couple says a quick "thank you" and then hustles toward the door. Borel, meanwhile, gets a weird feeling and runs back down to the cellar and discovers that his prized bottles of Romanée-Conti have been replaced with cheap, screw-top supermarket wine bottles filled with colored water. 

Not to be defeated, he leaps into action, calls the cops, and he and one of his waiters actually chase the two thieves into the parking lot. In the chase, the male robber with the trenchcoat manages to jump into the getaway car and speed away, but, in doing so, he leaves his partner behind! The waiter and Borel then tackle Stephanie, whose real name is Natali Ray, and they hold her until the police arrive. 

As of the time I wrote this, she was sitting in a jail cell in Virginia charged with grand larceny, and her partner was still at large with about $40,000 worth of stolen wine, although by now he may be caught.

So, Carmela, I have a couple of questions for you:

  • First, the thieves used screw-top bottles as replacements for maybe the world’s greatest wine. Do you think that’s just laziness, or was it something else?
  • The male partner literally sped off and left the woman there to get arrested. You are my partner in crime. If we were pulling a heist and I drove away while you were getting tackled by a waiter, what would your reaction be?


Carmela, you know what? We are not here to talk about long trench coat wearing thieves or faking Romanée-Conti with cheap grocery store wines or leaving your partner in crime behind, which I would never do. Nope. We are here to talk about the King of Sicily, also known as Nero d’Avola, and we have two reasonably priced Nero d’Avola wines that we are going to drink and review today to see if they, or any Nero d’Avola, is worth your hard earned money . . . 

But first . . . we have to do our shameless plug.

Thank you for listening to us and for supporting our show, and remember, we buy all of our own wine so that we can give you real and honest reviews, and we do all of the writing and recording and editing to  bring you a show every week because we love you all, and all we ask you for in return is that you please follow or subscribe to our podcast and also please leave us a nice rating and review  to help us grow our listeners - and a huge thank you to all of you who have done so already! 

You can also follow us on Instagram at thewinepairpodcast, and on Bluesky. You can contact us on our website thewinepairpodcast.com, and you can sign up for our email newsletter there and you can also visit our “Shop Wine” section where you can find links to buy the wines that we rate as buys in each episode. 

And we want to make content you care about and you like, so send us a note or DM us and give us some feedback or let us know if there are wines you want us to try or wine making areas of the world you are curious about - and we’ll take care of it! joe@thewinepairpodcast.com

  • Shout out to Hasini who let us know that she likes the wine in the news segment, and that she bought the Lambruscos we are going to taste in a few weeks so she can drink along with us. Remember, at the end of the episode, we’ll share the wines we are drinking in upcoming episodes, and we have links in our show notes for where you can buy them. 
  • Shout out to Bud who reached out and told us 1) he liked the Virginia winemaker episode with Justin Rose from Rosemont, who, by the way, sent us some of their wines, and 2) gave us a recommendation to do an episode on Susumaniello which is actually a red wine your cousin bought when we were out to dinner in Bari.
  • Timmy who sent us a very funny video on wine tasting from YouTube, and I have a link to it in our show notes:  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7svF_neabNg Also, Timmy shared a Spotify wrapped, and that guy is a top .5% fan and spends a lot of time listening to us. Amazing!
  • Justice who shared on Instagram that we made it into their Spotify wrapped and said that we are their favorite podcast which is a huge honor!!!


And, as we do every week, we’ll tell you someone we think you should recommend The Wine Pair Podcast to - because the best way for us to grow listeners is when you tell your family and friends about us - and this week, we want you to recommend us to anyone who loves a big, full-bodied, robust, and fruit forward wine because they may just like this episode

RESEARCH ARTICLES AND LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE




Topic: WTF is Nero d’Avola? 18:23

Carmela, let’s find out just what the eff Nero d’Avola is, shall we?

As we have mentioned, Nero d’Avola is basically the one wine from Sicily you are likely to run into because it is the foundational wine of the island.

Nero d’Avola means “black of Avola” - with Nero meaning black in Italian. So, for instance, Pinot Noir in Italy is known as Pinot Nero, and Noir means black in French, so there you go. And Avola refers to the city of Avola in southeast Sicily near where the wine is from. This is a wine that is named for the grape, and we always say that one of the tricky things about European wines is that they are often named for the region they are from rather than the grape. So, it’s nice the grape and the wine are the same, however, the grape in Italy is often known as Calabrese, but Nero d’Avola is its better known name.

This name Calabrese has caused some confusion because one would assume that maybe it is from the region of Calabria, where my family is from, which is the region closest to Sicily. But, most think it refers to the Sicilian dialect word Calau Avulisi which means something like “comes from Avola.”

The grape and wine have a long history in Sicily, and it is believed that the Greeks brought the grape to Sicily when they conquered the island in the 8th century BC. If you didn’t know, Sicily and much of the southern part of the Italian peninsula was part of Magna Grecia, and we saw some amazing Greek ruins when we went to Naples and Puglia this summer. But I digress.

For most of its history, Nero d’Avola was mostly a workhorse grape, the old workhorse grape, used as a blending grape, and a bulk wine grape. I have not heard this before, but it was sometimes called a ghost grape because it was often added as a secret ingredient to bring color, alcohol, and structure to wines.

Now, Nero d’Avola makes a higher alcohol wine because it contains a lot of sugar, and so that made it helpful in creating wines that could travel better. On that, one source I found on the interwebs said the French nicknamed it the “medicine wine” because of the high alcohol content. And, so, even the French would secretly add this grape to their blends to add some structure, alcohol, and body.

As you might expect given some of these descriptors, Nero d’Avola was not a very highly regarded grape for making standalone wines for most of its history until the late 1990’s when producers finally started to focus on quality.

In fact, it was well-regarded winemakers like Planeta, Cusumano, and Donnafugata who helped create this new reputation for lowly Nero d’Avola. For instance, Planeta produced its first single-varietal Nero d’Avola, Santa Cecilia, in 2008. And because of that, Nero d’Avola is the wine that really introduced the world to quality wines from Sicily which now includes wines like Etna Rosso, which we’ll cover in a few weeks.

The DOC or DOCG status of Nero d’Avola I found a bit complicated to understand. Remember, these are the top wine designations in Italy and show up on the bottle on little labels near the cork. Nero d’Avola is not classified as DOC or DOCG by itself. In 2005, Cerasuolo di Vittoria was given DOCG status in Sicily, and is Sicily’s only DOCG. This particular wine is required to be between 50% and 70% Nero d’Avola, with the remainder usually Frappato, which Chris and I just happened to talk about. Other DOCs where Nero d’Avola are a component include the Noto DOC and the Eloro DOC. Nero d’Avola wines produced after 2016 are generally classified as Sicilia DOC.

Nero d’Avola is made into a variety of styles, and it is less of a fruit bomb today than it used to be in the past, although you can easily find Nero d’Avola fruit bombs which is why it is a wine we have generally avoided and is not a wine your dad or I drink.

Most often, the wine is known for being big in body, moderate in acidity, with soft but firm tannins. Some call it a chewy wine. To me, it is often flabby, but we’ll see how the wines we are drinking today are.

The grape, as you can expect, is well suited to hot weather which is why it makes such a high alcohol wine, and so while it is not common outside of Sicily, you can find it being made in hot weather wine regions in California, Washington State, South Africa, Malta, Turkey, and Australia. And, so like some other varietals we have talked about recently that may start to be seen more often as the climate gets hotter - like Graciano from a few weeks ago - Nero d’Avola may become a hero grape in warmer climate regions because it likes the heat.

But that’s enough information. I think it’s time to learn a little more about the specific wines we are drinking today. Whaddya say?


Nero d’Avola Wines We Chose for This Episode 24:51

As usual, the wines we have chosen for this episode are under $25, and Nero d’Avola wines are usually pretty easy to find. I bought both of these wines at a local artisan grocery store in Seattle called Ken’s Market, but you should find them no problem in big wine shops and stores that have good Italian wine sections. And, as always, ask your local wine merchant to find some for you if you cannot find it.

The first wine we are going to drink is the 2023 Purato Nero d’Avola, and this is a Sicilia DOC. This wine is certified organic, vegan, and sustainable farmed, the labels are made on recycled paper with vegetable dyes, the bottles are made from 85% recycled glass, and, to top it all off, pun intended, it has a screw cap, so if those things are important to you, this is a great wine to seek out. They take their sustainable approach very seriously. 

Purato is 100% Nero d’Avola, and I was able to find a tech sheet for the wine. The grapes are grown in sandy and pebbly soil, which I’m sure you all remember is great for wine grapes because they like water stress. The wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks, cold macerated on the skins for 10-15 days, which is where it gets its flavor and structure and tannins, and then it is aged for 6-7 months in stainless steel. So, no oak. That means I expect this wine to be pretty fruity and fresh tasting. 

The winery is located very close to the Mediterranean in a small town called Vittoria which is on the south end of the island, basically right across the island from the city of Siracusa (Syracuse).

The next wine we are going to drink is the 2022 Planeta La Segreta Nero D'Avola. This wine is also 100% Nero d’Avola and also a Sicilia DOC. And, it is also a screw cap! Woo Hoo!

The winery gives a lot of information about themselves, but less depth on the wine making. They say they pressed this wine and then left it on the skins for 12 days at 77 degrees fahrenheit, with what they call repeated daily mixing. They did not, however, indicate if that mixing included pump over or punch down, so we are left to guess. After they rack the wine, which is a fancy way of saying transferring the wine from one container to another which is a natural way to filter wines, they use malolactic fermentation which tamps down the acidity in the wine, and then the wine rests until February - which I assume means that after harvesting in early September, they let the wine age for about 5 months before they bottle it.  

Planeta is also on the western side of the island of Sicily, but is on the North end in the village of Sambuca di Sicily close to the town of Menfi, basically on the other side of the Island from Palermo. Planeta started making wines in 1995 and is considered one of the island's most significant wineries with a good international reputation.

They do call out their winemaker is Patricia Toth who was born and raised in Hungary, trained in Italy and Hungary, and became the winemaker at Planeta in 2005. She is involved in the SOStain program which is focused on sustainable farming as well as reducing their carbon footprint in bottling and packaging wines. 

But, I think that is enough information - let’s get to drinking! We’ll take a quick break and be right back. And, if you have these wines or similar wines, drink along with us to get some participation points, which you can trade-in for free stickers. You just need to send me an email with your mailing address, and I will get those “I drink with The Wine Pair Podcast” stickers over to you!


LINKS TO SOURCES FOR THESE SPECIFIC WINES


2023 Purato Nero d’Avola, 2022 Planeta La Segreta Nero D'Avola Wine Tasting, Pairing, and Review 30:32

Wine: Purato Nero d’Avola
Region: Italy, Sicily
Year: 2023
Price: $13.99
Retailer: Ken’s Market
Alcohol: 13%
Grapes: Nero d’Avola
Professional Rating: Vivino 3.6

What we tasted and smelled in this Purato Nero d’Avola: 

  • Color: Dark ruby red, pretty, translucent
  • On the nose: Jammy, cough syrup, fruity, raspberry, blueberry compote, cherry, sweet and ripe
  • In the mouth: Fruit juice, gentle, dangerous because it is so easy drinking , good chilled, strawberry candies with the soft center, sweet, medicinal, Luden’s cough drop, a fun not serious wine, good for new wine drinkers


Food to pair with this Purato Nero d’Avola: Salty foods, potato chips, french fries, pizza, calzone, pasta with a meat bolognese sauce, pizza oven wine, cookout
 
As a reminder on our rating scale, we rate on a scale of 1-10, with no half points, where 7 and above means that we would buy it, and 4 and below means that we are likely to pour it down the sink, and a 5 or 6 means we are likely to drink it and finish it, but we are probably not going to buy it. 

Purato Nero d’Avola Wine Rating: 

  • Joe: 6/10
  • Carmela: 7/10


Wine: Planeta La Segreta Nero D'Avola
Region: Italy, Sicily
Year: 2022
Price: $22.99
Retailer: Ken’s Market
Alcohol: 13%
Grapes: Nero d’Avola
Professional Rating: Falstaff 92, WE 90 Vivino 3.6

What we tasted and smelled in this Planeta La Segreta Nero D'Avola: 

  • Color: Ruby red but cloudy or filmy
  • On the nose: Dirt, star anise, licorice, green bell pepper, spice, black pepper, black olive, dark fruits, black berry bramble
  • In the mouth: Juicy, very tannic, like tea, a bit sour and tangy, underripe fruit, pomegranate, bitterness, sandy or gritty, not a lot of fruit, not a fruit bomb, not balanced, needs more fruit


Food to pair with this Planeta La Segreta Nero D'Avola: Pizza, but red sauce may be too much for it, white pizza, pork tenderloin with bbq sauce, good with smoky and sweet barbecue, sweet and sour chicken, Korean pork ribs
 
Planeta La Segreta Nero D'Avola Wine Rating: 

  • Joe: 5/10
  • Carmela: 5/10


Which one of these are you finishing tonight?

  • Carmela: Purato Nero d’Avola
  • Joe: Purato Nero d’Avola


Taste profiles expected from Nero d’Avola  45:34

  • General 
    • Dark fruits like black cherry, plum, blackberry and blueberry. Sometimes also strawberry and cranberry. Spices like black pepper, herbal notes like eucalyptus and forest floor, earthy notes like wet stone and balsamic, also coffee, cocoa, tobacco, leather, black licorice, and dark fruit. Round and chewy
  • Purato Nero d’Avola
    • Winery: Deep purple red color. The nose reveals intense fruity notes of blackberry and blueberry compote, together with smoky and spicy notes. On the palate it is extraordinarily round and complete, with a natural and effortless balance of tannin and acidity, structure and length.
    • Champion Wine Cellars: In the glass, this Nero d’Avola shows a deep garnet hue with purple highlights. On the nose, lively aromas of wild blackberry, sour cherry, and violet mingle with hints of black pepper and a trace of Mediterranean herb. The palate opens with ripe dark fruit, balanced by zesty acidity and smooth tannins that lend structure without sharpness.
  • Planeta La Segreta Nero D'Avola

Winery: Ruby red color with violet reflections. Typical varietal aromas of ripe plum, cocoa, wild fruit, and flawless spiciness. On the palate, full and tannins without excess.

    • WE: The nose is cool, earthy and saline, with aromas of black cherries on ice, peonies and damp soil. Black plums and blackberries headline the palate, while a juicy but tart citrus overtone shines overhead and an undertone of earth provides an anchor. Firm but flexible tannins balance insistent acid



What is your verdict on Nero d’Avola? 48:09
Have to keep trying it out. The Purato was nice, but not for the fancy wine drinker. Approachable. Great for beginning wine drinkers.

Wines coming up in future episodes in case you want to drink along with us 48:44


Outro and how to find The Wine Pair Podcast 49:11

Ok, so, Carmela, it’s time for us to go, but before we do, we want to thank you very much for listening to us - and if you haven’t done so yet, now would be the perfect time to follow or subscribe to our podcast and also a fantastic time to leave us a nice rating and review on our website or Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts - and it is an awesome and free way to support us and help us grow listeners.

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