Issue VII: Colosi Sicilia Rosso Edition

Colosi Sicilia Rosso [Nero d'Avola]

I mentioned in the Navarro Correas Issue (#2) that I wasn’t sure if it was the most frequently purchased, but was right near the top. That would also apply to this one and they’re probably pretty close to neck and neck. I have definitely bought this wine off-SPA more than any other entry in the list, though, that much is certain.

For a long time, I wasn’t much of a wine fan and would drink only French wine. When I started off, it was hard liquor; mostly Seagram’s VO, only for a long time, then eventually beer and then reluctantly wine. I tried a couple times to get going on the wine, but those were hard drinkin’ days and myself and a friend managed to really do a number on ourselves one night. We both got tremendously sick and I gave all my bottles away and foreswore the wine for several years. Fast forward to meeting my wife, who wasn’t much a fan of anything BUT red wine and it came back to the process of building the wine list I’d always wanted to do, since restricting to one country, regardless of the country, is mostly folly.

I say mostly, because if that country is Italy, you’re probably not going to go too far wrong. By having such a narrow view of the delectable liquid, I deprived myself of many years when I could have been enjoying bottles from what is now my overall favorite wine region; the southern part of Italy. This particular one hails from the island of Sicily.

If I had to choose only one wine to drink for the rest of my life, I would be hard-pressed to do better than this. It is always consistent, incredibly delicious and smooth, yet has a dry aspect to it that never gets into astringency. This was a marvel when I found it; full, rich, vibrant, very fruit forward and almost entirely absent of bite, just nearly pure silkiness. This, in fact, is nearly exactly what I was looking for as the ultimate for the under $20 aspect and considering that this, at normal price, is slightly over half of that price, it really makes it near-incomparable. It is also very well-stocked and is sort of the standard bearer for the Standard rating.