Quite spicy and dark with charred wood, smoke, vanilla, bark and black leather. Flavorful, dense and full-bodied with firm, lightly chewy tannins and an obvious, giving finish. Rich and a little heady, too. A wine for the heavier taste. Drink by 2026.

Made with Nero d'Avola from the 12-hectare Vigneto del Torrone Bianco Tenuta San Giacomo, the 2019 Sicilia Sàgana is very rich and concentrated with dark, inky fruit and a full-bodied presentation. The wine is lush, textured and very modern with a good mix of blackberry fruit and oak spice. Sàgana was not made in the difficult 2018 vintage. My only concern regarding this 20,000-bottle release is the high 15% alcohol content.

This wine sources its fruit from a site identified on the front label: the Vigneto del Torrone Bianco in the Tenuta San Giacomo. A pure expression of Nero d'Avola, the Cusumano 2017 Sicilia Sàgana is a richly concentrated and powerful wine with a 15% alcohol content. The bouquet is heartily enriched with blackberry preserves and cherry confit, and the wine is soft and luscious to touch. The length is moderate, even a bit clipped, in this hot vintage that front-loads most of its fruit weight and volume. Black olive tapenade appears on the finish. This is a 20,000-bottle production.

With a new label design, Cusumano is now declaring the vineyard sites on their labels. This wine, the 2016 Sicilia Sàgana, sees fruit sourced from the Vigneto del Torrone Bianco at the Tenuta San Giacomo. This is a grand expression of Nero d'Avola, and I'm not sure how the Cusumano brothers pulled it off. Completely absent are those raw aromas of olive and caper that you often get with this Sicilian grape. Instead, you get ripe blackberry and dark plum with spice, dark chocolate and barbecue smoke. It ages in oak for 18 months. There is some freshness, even a point of sourness on the close, but the wine finishes with great intensity and balance nonetheless. Some 20,000 bottles were made.

Readers may remember that 2014 was a difficult vintage for mainland Italy. However, it was an excellent vintage for the islands, including Sicily and Sardinia, thanks to offshore winds that kept much of the bad weather at bay. The 2014 Sicilia Sàgana (from the Tenuta San Giacomo) is a richly textured red wine, made only with Nero d'Avola, that shows lively exuberance. Those harsh edges, that I identify as black olive or wild fennel, that you sometimes get with this grape are absent here. Instead, you are treated to a more contemporary display of Morello cherry, blackberry and dark spice. Okay, so there is a tiny touch of tangy olive at the back that serves as a friendly reminder that you are in Sicilia. Some 22,800 bottles were produced.