Often if you're a frequent wine drinker, you find yourself puzzled over a bottle. It doesn't happen often for me, but sometimes I just can't decide whether I like a wine or not.
I opened a bottle of 2005 Sedara Donnafugata Nero d’Avola and my opinion changed somewhat throughout. Nero d'Avola is a popular Sicilican grape. Initially, it needed some air. If a wine is particularly tannic, or bitter near the swallowing point - a little oxygen will often soften that bite. Let it breathe 30-60 minutes. But the wine quickly "softened" after sitting open about a half hour for me.
I also found that I liked the wine after a small time in the fridge. Even red wines benefit from a little chilling - not cold .. but slightly less that room temperature of 72 degrees... mid 60s is where I like a red.
This wine was fruit forward with an unusual nose. The first time I put my nose in the glass -- and yes, stick yr nose all the way in there - it reminded me of a Pinot Noir.
It is a very dry wine but interesting. It's the type of wine that might take another bottle to make a real good decision. (tough task, I know) It's probably not for real novice wine drinkers unless you really like your wine big and dry.
I had the wine with some pasta .. ground turkey, bottled sauce .. nothing at all special and it almost over-powered the food. The pasta was ok, but rather bland compared to how I normally would fix it. But it held up nicely with the few bites of dark chocolate I had afterwards.
In the end I'd probably recommend it to people who like such wines, but not newcomers to wine drinking. It is reasonably priced at about $16. I bought this bottle at Mass Avenue Wine Shop in Indianaplis.
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