NeroMaccarj - 2016
Gulfi
- Region
- Italy 禄 Sicilia 禄 IGP Terre Siciliane
- Type
- red still, dry
- Producer
- Gulfi
- Vintage
- 2016
- Grapes
- Nero d'Avola
- Alcohol
- 14
- Sugar
- 3.2
- Volume
- 750 mL
- Cellar
- not available
Ratings
Expressive and beautiful bouquet full of dried rose, cherry confiture, fig, black pepper. Almost full bodied, long aftertaste with chili touch and flavours of coffee, candied cherry and crushed gravel. Interesting evolution in glass. It still shows energy, and could easily live for 10 years more. Pachino terroir produces beautiful and mineral Nero d'Avola and I definitely love it.
One more beauty from Pachino, made from grapes growing in few steps from the sea. Fascinating and elegant bouquet. Sour cherry, fig, toffee, vanilla and crushed gravel. Well integrated acidity, silky tannins, long finish. Flavourful, not overwhelming. Cherry and roasted almonds. Amazing, how delicate Nero d'Avola can be. In the blind tasting I would confuse it with some overripe Nerello Mascalese.
Gulfi
The fact that my relations with Sicilian wines are special might be something obvious. But not many people know that it all started with Gulfi stand at the very first Kyiv Wine festival. When we met, I was already tired (e.g. drunk). I almost passed by, disgusted by my own weakness, when a Gulfi representative (apologies, I don't remember her name) stopped me and offered a glass of their wine. I looked at the representative welcoming face. I looked at the naked ass on the label. And I realised there are no reasons to reject this present from Dionysus. And even though I don't remember which wines I tasted exactly, the Gulfi imprint is what I took out of that overly drunk day.
It is worth mentioning that the naked ass on the label has a meaning. A meaning close enough to what one might think. Meet an ancient mosaic from Villa Romana del Casale located in Piazza Armerina in the province of Enna. This mosaic depicts Eros (Cupid) and Psyche (Beauty). According to the story, out of envy of Venus, they are forced to love each other in secret. But passion rarely goes unnoticed, and in their case, it found a physical manifestation (no puns) in the form of a daughter (no puns, seriously) they called Vulptas (literally meaning 'pleasure'), a goddess of sensual pleasures. And how does it connect to Gulfi? Sicily is Psyche, Gulfi is Eros, and their child is wine, a sensual pleasure.