This is one of the bottles that symbolizes the Sicilian Wine Renaissance that started a few decades ago. The Morgante 2019 Sicilia Nero d'Avola Riserva Don Antonio is a real beauty with bold lines and big intensity. The inky and extracted style does evoke a winemaking style that was popular during the first decade of the new millennium, but Don Antonio pulls off that style with pride and confidence. There is plenty of black cherry and baked plum with spice, tobacco and tarry smoke over a full-bodied style. The alcohol content is high at 15%. Production is 20,000 bottles.

The Morgante 2017 Sicilia Nero d'Avola Riserva Don Antonio enjoys a long history and is one of the bottles that put Sicily on the world wine map. Morgante was already bottling this top-shelf red decades ago when the island's fine wine selection was limited to just a handful of bottles. Don Antonio is rich and concentrated, benefiting from the extra sunshine that characterized this hot vintage. Dark and black fruit segue to oak spice, toasted pistachio and exotic spice. The tannins are mild, and the wine delivers many soft layers of sun-ripened fruit. Some 30,000 bottles were released.

Behold the venerable Don Antonio, one of the first wines to put Nero d'Avola on the world map of native grapes. On the label of the 2016 Sicilia Nero d'Avola Riserva Don Antonio, you'll notice that this wine is now identified as a Riserva, making use of the newly expanded appellation laws of the Sicilia DOC. This is a beautiful medium to full-bodied wine with the type of extraction and thickness that we remember from vintages past and the typical characteristics of the grape. Black fruit and Morello cherry is followed by black olive, grilled fennel, scorched earth and toasted pistachio with bitter chocolate. The aromas are all Sicily. Production is about 30,000 bottles.

The 2015 Sicilia Nero d'Avola Riserva Don Antonio delivers an explosive bouquet that is comprised of equal parts dark fruit, spice and savory tobacco. This wine sees 20 days of fermentation on the skins and finishes up with malolactic fermentation in steel vats. It then ages in French barrique for 12 months. It's a standard winemaking approach for an exceptional expression of Sicily's most important red grape. This is a medium to full-bodied red with ample texture and roundness on the finish. Do you feel that 15% alcohol? Some 40,000 bottles were produced.

Carmelo Morgante makes a fine Nero d'Avola. The 2013 Sicilia Nero d'Avola Don Antonio is one of his best creations so far. The wine is dark and impenetrable and loaded tight with bold fruit intensity. It shows a careful measure of heft and power that leaves a deep impression but that does't feel too heavy or thick. Despite its big bones, the wine maintains its grace and elegance. Deep concentration - driven by oak flavors of spice and chocolate - push the wine forward over the palate.