A certified organic Nero d'Avola, the Gulfi 2018 NeroBufaleffj reveals dark fruit, dried plum and fig. The wine offers rich concentration and soft tannins with plenty of dark, sweet fruit on the close. It concludes with a touch of sweetness and ripe flavors. The fruit is sourced from a three-hectare site at 50 meters above sea level with an incredible mix of white limestone soils, black clay and red sand. Production is 6,400 bottles.

This is one of three single-vineyard (and organic) expressions of Nero d'Avola from Gulfi and another such release of 6,400 bottles. The 2017 NeroBufaleffj offers medium-dark concentration and lots of aromatic intensity that closely reflects the varietal purity of this wine. Black cherry and dried blackberry segue to spice, scorched earth and roasted eggplant. This was a hot vintage, but the wine's fruit definition remains crisp and linear nonetheless. NeroBufaleffj is born on a three-hectare site with a unique mix of black clay, white limestone and reddish sandy soils. These unique conditions shape this wine's special identity. It's a good occasion to crack out a very Sicilian recipe of stuffed pork ribs, or costate di maiale ripiene.

The 2016 NeroBufaleffj is a bit tighter and greener perhaps compared to the other two single-vineyard expressions of Nero d'Avola I tasted from Gulfi in this flight. This is a mid-weight wine with bright cherry, sour plum, wet earth and grilled aromas of Sicilian herb or wild fennel and caper seed. The Bufaleffi growing site shows mixed soils, and you get some rusty nail and crushed limestone here as well. Some 6,500 bottles were made.

A pure expression of Nero d'Avola, the 2013 Sicilia Nerobufaleffj (with only 3,600 bottles produced) is a thickly textured and dark red wine with ripe fruit aromas that segue to tar, road paving, spice and black licorice. Now that we are five years after the harvest, the wine is also showing slightly aged notes of sweet barbecue smoke and crushed granite rock. Black olive and Sicilian caper also make subtle aromatic appearances. The Bufaleffi vineyard site shows a unique array of colored soils with black clay, white limestone rock and red sand.

The 2009 Nerobufaleffj is a very unusual wine for Sicily. Made with organically farmed fruit, the wine delivers a level of aromatic intensity that is rare to see anywhere in southern Italy. The bouquet is explosive with bold cherry, dried blackberry, tobacco and spice. There is a very noticeable tone of cinnamon stick or crushed clove as well. The wine is deeply endowed with exotic or Indian spice. It is unusual to see a red wine of this concentration and power made with Nero d'Avola. The 2009 vintage also delivers evolved tones of licorice, tar and resin that add complexity to the overall presentation.