Description

Description

Rich and soft this Sicilian red wine has lovely spiced cherry flavours that linger on the finish. Would be good with grilled red meats, spicy Italian sausages or stews.

Grape

Indigenous to Sicily, Nero d’Avola produces deeply coloured wines with juicy fruit and supple tannins. Wines show blackberry, cherry and pepper character with high levels of acidity. Nerello Mascalese is a red grape that grows most commonly on the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna. It produces taut, fresh wines with fruity, herbaceous flavors, excellent minerality and an earthy nuance. Nerello Mascalese wines often have a perfume reminiscent of Barolo and Burgundy.

Producer

Made and blended by Alberto Antonini at the Curatolo family winery, the Borgo Selene wines represent superb value for money. The name derives from the Greek goddess of the Moon, Selene, illustrating the influence the Greeks (who also brought the vine to Sicily) have had on the Mediterranean’s largest island. This wine is produced from selected grapes grown in two different vineyards: one near Marsala and one in the centre of Sicily.

Region

Sicily is Italy’s southernmost region, and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The island was once most famous for sweet Muscats and later fortified Marsala. Today many of its best-known wines are dry table wines produced under the regional IGT title Terre Siciliane, or the Sicilia DOC. Blessed with consistently bright sunshine and reliably moderate rainfall, Sicily’s classic Mediterranean climate is ideally suited to the production of wine grapes. The warm, dry climate means that mildews and rots are kept to a minimum, particularly in well-ventilated areas that benefit from coastal breezes. This low disease pressure means that chemical sprays are hardly needed, so much Sicilian wine is produced from organic grapes. The key grape varieties used in Sicilian viticulture are a combination of native varieties (those historically cultivated on the island) and newer, more fashionable imports. Nero d’Avola and Catarratto are the most important indigenous varieties.

Food Pairing

With good acidity and rich fruit Sicilian reds come into their own with grilled meats, stews or tomato sauce based dishes.