Feudo Arancio – Nero d’Avola 2003

On the nose: At first, it’s mostly licorice and anise. With patience and a lot of swirling, you can coax a little fruit into making an appearance.

On the palate: This is a full-bodied and relatively one-dimensional wine. I’m used to licorice and anise being faint, background notes that add layer of complexity. Here, however, it takes up the entire stage. At first, the licorice / anise flavor bullies its way out of the bottle. It is dominant and overwhelming. If you allow the wine to breathe, the licorice and anise will spread out enough to allow some of the fruit to be noticed. However, the flavors are so densely packed together and the finish is so abrupt that the fruit does not have much of a chance to say anything meaningful. A licorice aftertaste seems to ghost around long after you’re ready to move on.

On the wallet: This wine was on sale for $8.99. If you really, really like licorice and anise, this wine is a steal. It’s unlikely that I’ll buy another bottle.

On the table: The bottle recommends pairing this wine with risotto, pasta, red meats, game, lamb and seasoned cheese. I don’t think the wine is that versatile, however. Because the licorice and anise is as heavy as it is, I would not recommend experimenting with anything other than red meat or pizza. And even then, you’ll need to decant for quite some time to give this wine a chance.