Apr

10

When I was at the Santa Cruz Mountain trade tasting the other day, I had the pleasure of meeting the owner and winemaker of Domenico Wines, Dominick Chirichillo.  Through my own research prior to attending the event, I had identified his winery as one whose wines I could not miss.   

domeniconebbiolo2005.jpgI came home with an array of Domenico wines, and when I popped open my first bottle, Domenico’s 2005 Nebbiolo from Amador County (i.e., in the Sierra Foothills), I was happy to discover that my pre-event research resulted in good information.

There was quite a bit going on in this wine – lots of leather complimented by a touch of tar, dark cherry, and plum, and when we took a taste, we were struck by how beautifully the initially dominant dark fruit flavors yielded to leathery ones in the midpalate, and then back to a mix of everything on the long finish.  The body of this wine was big, but the tight tannins helped give it impressive backbone. 

As you can all probably tell by now, we at WineRabbi expect serious performance out of wines that cost more than $20, because there’s so much on the market below that price point that’s terrific.  The Domenico Nebbiolo met and exceeded that expectation by quite a stretch. 

We still have a variety of Domenico wines left, so don’t be surprised to see reviews of their other bottles in the near future. 

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