It’s #WineWednesday and I’m traveling to Sicily—through my glass. I grabbed a bottle of Viticultori Associati Canicattì Nero d’Avola Sicilia Centuno 2013 for my “trip.”
CVA Canicattì is a wine cooperative that has been around for over 40 years, with 480 wine growers around 1,000 hectares of sunny vineyards situated in 60 different winegrowing areas. Each winegrower is supported through every step of production by the cooperative’s technical staff in charge of supervising the plants’ development and issuing recommendations to obtain healthy grapes with a high organoleptic profile. In the cellar, conferment follows a detailed calendar planned around the optimal maturation-time of each variety and all vinification is performed on small batches to produce wines endowed with olfactory and gustatory notes of great impact. It is run with the managerial talent of its president Giovanni Greco while the technical side is in the hands of Tonino Guzzo, a Sicilian wine enologist.
The vineyards extend over a vast territory from the province of Agrigento to Palermo and Caltanissetta with soils that are chalky-sandy with a medium density situated at altitudes ranging from 200 to 600 meters above sea level. The ampelographic profile of this area is perfect for growing traditional native vines such as Nero d’Avola, Grillo, and Catarratto. This wine, in particular, was sourced from the Agrigento countryside.
It’s dark ruby in color and the wine gently sticks to the glass. It’s fragrant on the nose with hints of dark berries and spice. It initially feels smooth and then bursts with liveliness. It’s dry on the palate, has some earthiness to it, dark berries, dark plum, vanilla, tannins, and there’s some acidity in the back of your throat (probably because it’s 14% alcohol). You can find it online for $14. I paired it with some pasta and then drank some more with a chocolate Entenmann’s chocolate doughnut.