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Winery
Calea
Varietal: Nero D'avola
In Sicily, the beautiful Mediterranean island off the Italian coast, one of the most important grape varietals grown is the Nero d'Avola, a black skinned grape indigenous to the country and one which has been cultivated and used for wine production for centuries. The Nero d'Avola is often compared to Australian Shiraz, as it also has a distinctively peppery and spicy character. However, the Nero d'Avola also holds deep and rich flavors of plum and other dark fruits, making it a delightful grape for making complex and interesting wines. One of the most important and well known uses for the Nero d'Avola grape varietal is in the Marsala wines for which Sicily is famous, and it is also used in several excellent still wines. The grapes thrive in dry and arid conditions, and recent decades have seen them planted in California and elsewhere in the New World.
Region: Sicily
The beautiful island of Sicily has been growing grapevines and producing wines for thousands of years, ever since the ancient Greeks first landed on its golden shores and noticed the island's true potential as a haven for quality grapes. Today, the island is one of Italy's primary wine regions, and even though over eighty percent of Sicily's grapevines are used for the production of sweet fortified wines, the remaining wineries making other wine styles are renowned around the world for their quality and character. Indeed, Sicilian wineries are famed for their ability to capture something of the sun-drenched region in their wines, and the vines they cultivate benefit enormously from the almost constant sunshine and the incredibly fertile volcanic soils which typify the island.
Country: Italy
There are few countries in the world with a viticultural history as long or as illustrious as that claimed by Italy. Grapes were first being grown and cultivated on Italian soil several thousand years ago by the Greeks and the Pheonicians, who named Italy 'Oenotria' – the land of wines – so impressed were they with the climate and the suitability of the soil for wine production. Of course, it was the rise of the Roman Empire which had the most lasting influence on wine production in Italy, and their influence can still be felt today, as much of the riches of the empire came about through their enthusiasm for producing wines and exporting it to neighbouring countries. Since those times, a vast amount of Italian land has remained primarily for vine cultivation, and thousands of wineries can be found throughout the entire length and breadth of this beautiful country, drenched in Mediterranean sunshine and benefiting from the excellent fertile soils found there. Italy remains very much a 'land of wines', and one could not imagine this country, its landscape and culture, without it.