Producers throughout southern Italy will tell you the same thing: In the old days, attracting international attention to native grapes like Nero d’Avola initially meant pairing them with international grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon. It was easy enough to do, since in Sicily you can grow the ripest, most idealized version of just about anything, and eventually, the thinking went, consumers would realize that Nero d’Avola was plenty delicious on its own. We’ve undoubtedly arrived at that point—Nero d’Avola is widely known and loved, prized for its dark-fruited generosity and relatively gentle tannins—and now it’s about evolving our understanding of what the grape can be.
As the Funaro family demonstrates with this organically farmed, unoaked 2019, Nero d’Avola has many different shades. Most Sicilian wine lovers have been conditioned to think of Nero d’Avola wines as dark, dense, and well-oaked, but here we have something different—a new-generation take on the grape that prioritizes freshness and easy drinkability over showy intensity. Having spent years comparing Sicilian Nero d’Avola to Aussie Shiraz and other big bruisers, I was ready to have my mind blown, and the Funaros obliged: With its dark, wild-berry fruit and exotic, Syrah-like spice, this plush, buoyant red will be making repeat appearances on my summer dinner table.
The Funaro enterprise consists of two farm estates in Western Sicily, not far from the coastal towns of Marsala and Trapani. Like many vineyard properties in this area, which may have once supplied the large Marsala houses or one of the local winemaking cooperatives with grapes, the Funaro family holdings were taken over by siblings Tiziana, Clemente, and Giacomo Funaro in 2003 with an eponymous label in mind. In addition to building an eco-friendly winery facility complete with solar electricity and a natural wastewater recycling system, they obtained organic certification for their vineyards, olive groves, and orchards in 2011. Most of the vineyards, which are planted to a wide variety of local and international varieties, are located on the family estate in the village of Salemi, in loamy soils at about 140 meters in elevation.
What we’re seeing more and more from Western Sicily is a continued sharpening of focus on the part of producers who once grew grapes with an eye toward quantity more so than quality. White varieties such as Inzolia, Catarratto, and Grillo, once funneled rather anonymously into Marsala wines, are developing distinctive identities of their own. The same goes for Nero d’Avola on the red side, although it had a significant head start on the whites. Also known as Calabrese, the variety is historically linked to the town of Avola, at the eastern end of Sicily near Ragusa (thus its “black grape from Avola” moniker). Before the wines of Mount Etna stole the spotlight and the Nerello Mascalese grape became de rigueur, Nero d’Avola was undoubtedly Sicily’s biggest claim to fame. The island’s only DOCG-designated red, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, typically contains 60% Nero d’Avola blended with the lightweight, spicy Frappato grape.
In fact, because Nero d’Avola has so often been blended with—and, in the case of international grapes like Cabernet, dominated by—other varieties, its specific character is still coming into focus, not just in Italy but in other areas of the world where the variety has caught on. As Ian d’Agata notes in his book, “Native Wine Grapes of Italy,” Nero d’Avola’s “ability to tolerate highly saline soils and heat without dropping its acidity has garnered it increasing interest by producers in the world’s warmer wine production areas.”
Regardless of where it falls on the body scale—Funaro’s ’19 is firmly in the “medium” category, and was aged only in tank—Nero d’Avola has always come off quite Syrah-like for me: notes of violet, pepper, and darker-hued fruits are all markers. Today’s wine is less inky than most, with a deep garnet-red color, and introduces a touch of red to the mix of black, purple, and blueberries on the nose. It is juicy and spicy in equal measure, with well-rounded tannins and well-preserved acidity. Lots of southern Italian/Sicilian reds tend to skew a little jammy, but there’s none of that here, making it not just a joy to sip on its own but a prime candidate for the table: Pair it with pizza, Sicilian-style baked pastas (see attached), burgers, you name it. This is an all-purpose value red just in time for summer!
