BOSTON, MA — The sun may be high but those March winds are a brisk reminder that winter’s in no hurry to step into the background.
Each season creates a link to the one moving on. Sometimes it’s the sky, sometimes the shudder of a windswept oasis; the ocean on a chilly June morning wind, rippling across the flat expanse.
And the robins! I’ve not seen so many plump little fellas as I did today,
hopscotching about, displaced, curious, hungry, confused, and just as much, so excited. They know spring is coming.
Entertaining wine, the recent cold snap has me shelving rosé for a pause, although spring always coaxes a beckon.
Enter Frappato, a lively, thin-skinned red grape varietal from Sicily. If ever there was an Italian synonym to a Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir joining hands with an accessible Red Burgundy, this would be she.
The Gurrieri family, located in the region of Vittoria, produces a gem. With a lovely feminine lilt, an ease and grace, the poetry of perfume, and just enough of an earthen hue to give structure, their Frappato offers the perfect mediator for those craving rosé, while still clinging to a bit of lingering warmth.
The patriarch of the family, Vincenzo, still tends the vineyards while his son Giovanni heads up the winemaking. They also produce red wines made with Nero D’Avola, a white made with Grillo, a rosé of both Nero D’Avola and Frappato, and a white blend, made with red grapes without skin contact. Their wines are worth seeking out, and can be found at select wine shops in Boston, and are distributed by the wonderful Mucci brothers, the team behind Mucci Imports.
2015 Gurrieri Frappato Sicily, found at Social Wines in South Boston, and at Fat Hen Restaurant in Somerville.