Donnafugata Sherazade Nero d'Avola 2022

Donnafugata Sherazade Nero d'Avola

Donnafugata Sherazade Nero d'Avola has brilliant ruby red with violet hues. On the nose, Sherazade has a bouquet of fragrant red plum and cherry with light spicy and balsamic scents. The palate is soft and enveloping with smooth tannins and a spicy fruit profile that reflects the nose and reveals extraordinary freshness.

Vineyards

The fruit for Sherazade comes from South-western Sicily. The vineyards are planted on clay loam soils, rich in nutritive elements and total limestone from 20 to 35%. The altitude is between 200 - 400 metres above sea level. Since the 2009 vintage, Sherazade has been made solely from Nero d'Avola grapes, which are planted at approximately 5,000 vines per hectare, trained using vertical shoot positioning and spur pruned.

Producer

The Rallo family has made wine in Marsala since 1851 and their ancient cellars tunnel beneath the city. They were one of the first families to begin making high quality table wine when sales of traditional Marsala started to decline, launching the Donnafugata label in 1983 and championing the potential of the region's native varieties.

Today, Donnafugata has three estates in Sicily: a modern winery and 270 hectares at Contessa Entellina in the hills east of Marsala; 18 hectares in Vittoria to the south eastern point of the Island; and 68 hectares on the island of Pantelleria. Donnafugata means 'fleeing woman' and is a reference to Queen Maria Carolina, who escaped the court of Naples in the early 19th Century with her husband, Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, when Napoleon's troops arrived.

The couple took refuge in Sicily at the Santa Margherita Belice palace, also the favourite residence of celebrated writer Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and depicted on the 'Mille e una Notte' label.

In Acate (Vittoria), in the 2017 vintage 496 mm of rainfall was recorded that corresponds to the average figure* for the territory (495 mm); however, temperatures were higher than average, particularly between July and August. Thanks to the emergency irrigation and careful crop load management, healthy and perfectly ripe grapes were produced.

The climatic trend of the vintage resulted in ripening about 10 days earlier than usual. Overall there was drop in production of about 10%. (*rainfall data obtained from Sicilian Agrometeorological Service, the station in Acate, since 2007.

Floramundi is a fantastic figure of a woman who is giving the gift of wonderful interlacements of flowers and fruits with velvety tones. It is a dialogue between two souls, the elegant and sophisticated one of Floral Liberty, of which Vittoria is rich in testimonies, and the fascinating and suggestive one of the tradition of the Pupi Siciliani(Sicilian Puppets). A dialogue between Nero d’Avola and Frappato to listen to with pleasure. A refined artistic label for a prestigious denomination: Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG.

Donnafugata Sherazade Nero d'Avola - Hay Wines