COS & effect

COS 2007 Cerasuolo di Vittoria (Sicily) – Delicious. There’s a shyness, but it’s not that the wine’s holding anything back. Rather, it teases and asks you to come to it, rather than the opposite, but the reward is an enveloping, seductive softness of rich, warm southern fruit…not heavy, not dark, not understructured, but definitely not Alpine or Teutonic in nature. Slowly-unfolding layers of earth and sapid fruit are the reward for boldness and patience in equal measure. Yum. (2/10)

Gulfi Annan

Gulfi 2007 Cerasuolo di Vittoria (Sicily) – A mix of red and darker fruit, shouldery and fairly powerful, yet with enough restraint to avoid being boisterous or overblown. There’s a dark core of soil and rock here, slightly lava-esque, but the concentration of the fruit that surrounds it doesn’t allow much penetration at present. Full and muscular, with aging potential. (6/09)

Frank Nobile

Fià Nobile 2007 Cerasuolo di Vittoria (Sicily) – Spiderwebs of red fruit that come off as insistent, but are actually rather soft-hearted. Volcanic dust, as well? Yes, some (alongside more organic brown earth), and this is a wine with a fair measure of soil amidst the berries. Balanced and highly approachable. Yum. (6/09)

COS, bee, show

COS 2005 Cerasuolo di Vittoria (Sicily) – Reliable as hell, showing pie fruit and mixed powdered peppercorns in clay, with a not-insignificant swath of cèpe. Open, but with structure; this could age for a little while, I think. The problem is not drinking it in the interim, because it’s quite tasty. (6/08)

You're either Pithos or you're Againstos

COS 2005 Cerasuolo di Vittoria “Pithos” (Sicily) – A blend of frappato and nero d’avola, farmed in biodynamie, fermented in amphora, and bottled without sulfur. In other words, asking for trouble at every stage. Good thing the wine is majestic. It’s not easy to love, with a more tightly-wound presence than the regular Cerasuolo di Vittoria and a more upfront structure (particularly the acidity, which is vibrant), and in point of fact I’d rather drink the normale right now, though I suspect this will end up better in the long run. The fruit is very concentrated, but for all that surprisingly light and laser-like, with a narrow beam of red-shifted berries and crystals pulsing at the subatomic level. Then there’s a layer of grey earth, or perhaps it’s something more metallic…enveloping but not containing. This is a fascinating wine, deserving of much more attention that I was able to give it here, at a conversational dinner in a crowded restaurant. (12/07)