Tom and Melody’s wine blog

I had to work late tonight and travel quite a distance for a presentation tonight. When I came home, Tom had our martini glasses chilling (what a great husband) and we read the paper and had our cocktail. Following that, Tom opened this bottle of Ruggero di Tasso Nero d’Avola 2005, a Sicilian red wine. Tom is enjoying this wine but I did not care for it. This is a personal thing and it does not reflect on the quality of the wine, but for me, it just didn’t do it for me. The nose is musty and yeasty. I only had a couple of sips and Tom insisted on pouring me a glass of another wine so I will stop this review and Tom will pick it up from here, because he is enjoying this wine. (He poured me a glass of Morgon Beaujolais. . .)

Tom: This Ruggero di Tasso Nero d’Avola 2005 is quite good. It has a quality that I am coming to recognize as common among Italian wines: it has a certain earthiness or yeastiness that is something of an acquired taste. (Melody calls this musty and I see what she means: it appeals to you or it doesn’t.) But I find this very nice: a strong, dry red with that certain yeastiness.

A floral nose and lovely balance of cherry with blackberry acidity. The nose reminds me of a Malbec but it has hints of Shiraz with a spicy finish. I noticed a definite , but surprising black licorice, along with chocolate-covered cherries, that assserts itself in the finish. This is simply delightful. I can’t imagine it can get better with decanting! This Feudo Arancio Nero D’Avola is delicious right out of the bottle.

Tom: This is a delicious soft red, dry but not tannic like a cabernet. This wine has absolutely no astringent or heavy alcohol taste; instead it’s very smooth. There’s a pleasantly strong fruit taste (but not fruit-bomby). This is an easy-going red wine that is tasty but not a “big red;” it would be great with cheese and fruit and would be an interesting wine for white-wine lovers to try.