Freo-based wine critic, blogger and lover of all things wine, John McGeehan (Instagram @jmcgvino), kindly gave us his personal critique on the new vintage 2019 Nero d’avola.
We hope you enjoy reading his insightful review – we always enjoy his detailed notes:
“Continuing with my bracket of alternative varieties, last night I cracked open what I reckon is Western Australia’s best producer of nero d’avola as they have recently released their new 2019 – and it’s as good as ever.
A more challenging vintage than the 2018 but curiously I feel this one has a bit longer cellaring potential.Same vines, fruit all coming from their home block on the Woodvale property and again just lightly oaked with around six months in seasoned American oak.
Highly floral with violet, plum and cherry on the nose. Quite tight on the palate at the moment, so if you are patient, this will really open up in 18-24 months, those delightful dark plum and cherry notes combine with roasted coffee bean, black olive, pistachio and mocha flavours to produce a very drinkable, real crowd-pleaser of a red. Chicken cacciatore would be an ideal food match.
An absolute steal for just $20 (less if you buy a mixed or straight dozen) from the Conti’s cellar-door. Plenty of indie stores will have it too. Do grab one or two as I reckon this could cellar easily for over five years. Trade distributor is Domain Wine Shippers. My score: 16.5/20