While enjoying a lovely Italian wine dinner at Max London's Restaurant in Saratoga last night and listening to the commentary from Jens Schmidt of Montecastelli Selections, I strained to listen to his words on the upcoming tasting of the 2005 Poggionotte Nero D'Avola, one of my favorite Sicilian wine varietals. When he mentioned that it comes from around a small town in central Sicily called Sambuca, I thought, hey that's cool, that is where my paternal grandmother was born! He went on to discuss the winery's owners, with the names of Gunther and Klaus and that those certainly were not typical Sicilian names, but then added that the brothers are indeed Sicilian. They have a German mother, but their father is Sicilian with the last name DiGiovanna. My jaw dropped as that was my grandmother's maiden name! I would likely have enjoyed the wine anyway, but this made it extra-special for me (it paired beautifully with duck breast and a sour cherry sauce).
Thanks for the tip on this wine. It seems to be reasonably priced. I'll have to see if Empire Wine can get it in. They are selling a Nero d'Avola/Pinot blend called Nuar that is quite good.
Posted by: Marco | May 10, 2009 at 01:17 PM