2016 Cusumano Sagana Nero d'Avola

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.