The 2005 Nero d’Avola Vrucara is a very beautiful soft-textured Nero d’Avola with perfumed aromatics and a generous core of ripe red fruits. The wine possesses lovely inner perfume that carries through all the way to the long, refined finish. Today the wine remains quite primary and fresh but it is also very delicious at this stage. The Vrucara is made from 40 year-old vines trained in the traditional alberello system. The wine spends eight months in French oak followed by four months in cask. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2015. This estate and its dramatic high-altitude vineyards are located in Cammarata, between Palermo and Agrigento.Importer: Selected Estates of Europe, Mamaroneck, NY; tel. (914) 698-7202

Molasses, root beer and smoked hickory are backed by black olive and black currant berry. This high-end Nero d’Avola made with grapes sourced from a distinctively remote vineyard in central Sicily feels smooth, elegant and polished and delivers bright fruit flavors on the close.——M.L.(11/1/2008)—— 91