The best red wine from Sicily is NeroMaccarj 2009, one the four crus produced by the Catania Family in Pachino, in south-east Sicily, according to the 2014 edition of “Vini di Sicilia” (Sicilian Wines).
It is the latest in a series of awards the Famiglia Catania has been collecting for years by both Italian and internationall wine experts.
"Even if we only produce small quantities of Gulfi Crus every year, we have the chance to send it all over the world and to show that Sicily can make one of the most outstanding wines in the world,” said Vito Catania, owner of the Sicilian-based Gulfi company that produces the NeroMaccarj. “Of course this 2009 is still too young, it needs another 10 to 15 years to reveal its complexity, but our family is already greatly enjoying it when pairing it with the food prepared by our chef at Gulfi."
Here’s a description of the wine as provided by Gulfi:
The wine:
Nero Maccarj is a cru made from Nero d'Avola grapes with complex and full-bodied characteristics typical of the wines from the area of Pachino where the native vines have thrived for centuries in an ideal environment. Production area: Val di Noto, between Pachino and Noto.
The vineyard:
Vigna Maccari extends for about three hectares in the area of the same name at 30 meters above sea level in the Val di Noto (Syracuse) in the renown region of Pachino located at the southeastern-most tip of Sicily. The soil is calcareous and clayish in this temperate-hot Mediterranean climate. Planting density is 7,000 vines per hectare grown ad alberello. The thirty year-old vines yield no more than 50 quintals per hectare.
Accompaniments:
Dense and potent, deserves meat, noble poultry, those dishes in which the tartness is not enough as contrast. This wine needs the whole trousseau of concentrated tannins, able to penetrate the fibre without breaking-up. Moreover, the evident oak makes it perfect with hot and spicy dishes such as mutton sauce of Abruzzo and hard aged cheeses.
