SUPERIOR WINE ALERT:

Once again, Jacuzzi has crafted wine that is more than worthy of today’s special alert. We always focus on great wines – but when one really shines, we issue an alert. Be sure that you are subscribed to our Daily Dispatch, to be the first to know about our special offerings.

SECRET SAVINGS ALERT:

Subscribe to our Daily Dispatch (above) and you’ll always know what our Top Secret coupon code of the day is. Every day we issue a new members-only code that entitles you to have Ground Shipping included on orders of six or more and, sometimes, an added discount!

Mission Codename: The Dark Duke of Sicily

Operative: Agent White

Objective: Return to Jacuzzi Family Vineyards, and secure a limited allocation of their unique and delicious Nero D’Avola, a wine that is rare to America

Mission Status: Accomplished!

Current Winery: Jacuzzi Family Vineyards

Wine Subject: 2009 Nero D’Avola Tracy Hills

Winemaker: Charlie Tsegeletos

Backgrounder:

Sometimes known as Calabrese, Nero D’Avola is an Italian grape variety that is indigenous to the region of Sicily, off the southern Italian coast. Regarded as the most important red wine grape in Sicily, Nero D’Avola is often used as a blending agent in other Italian wines. Known as “The Black Grape of Avola”, this varietal is seeing greater use in single-varietal wines, like today’s exceptional offering from our good friends at Jacuzzi Family Winery.

Wine Spies Tasting Profile:

Look – Viewed in the glass, the wine shows a dark ruby color. Spin the wine and the wine shows as Burgundy-colored. Darker through the core and perfectly clear, this wine is beautiful. After spinning, tall legs start high on the glass.

Smell – Bold and unlike anything we’ve inhaled in the past, the wine is bursting with earthy blueberry, raspberry, dark chocolate, black flowers, dark roasted coffee beans, mushrooms and earthy black cherry. Underneath these, we found black pepper and a hint of sweet Spumoni ice cream.

Feel – Cool and light-weight, initially, the wine takes on some weight at the mid-palate. Medium tannins and a bright acidity give the wine complexity and structure.

Taste – Blackberry, cherry, dark strawberry, and smoky blueberry lead the way. As the wine opens up, young plum, black spice, subtle oak, bramble, black pepper and a hint of espresso fill the palate.

Finish – Long and flavor-filled, the wine leads with red fruit. This yields, gradually, to red fruit, spice, pepper, darkest chocolate and hints of spice. At the very end, subtlest oak and black pepper make a long appearance.

Conclusion – I love this wine! Today’s 2009 Jacuzzi Family Vineyards Nero D’Avola is an intriguing, unique and very delicious wine, made from a very rare Southern Italian varietal. Darker and more flavorful than many of the Cali Sangiovese we have featured, this wine delivers most of its fruit on the mid-palate. From there, dark fruit flavors radiate toward the edges of the palate – where they linger for a long time. With bright acids and tannins that give the vine a softly dry, crushed velvet feel, the wine is complex and exciting on the palate. Pair with a grilled salmon or my go-to garlic-rubbed grilled New York steak. Abondanza!

Mission Report:

WINEMAKER INTEL BRIEFING DOSSIER

SUBJECT: Charlie Tsegeletos

WINE EDUCATION: 30 years of working with winemakers and growers that know what they are doing and what it takes to make good wine. BS Ag Sci and Management and Plant Science from UCD.

CALIFORNIA WINE JOB BRIEF: Apprentice Winemaker with tiny Pendleton Winery in San Jose; Assistant Winemaker with family owned Hacienda Winery in Sonoma; Winemaker for historic D’Agostini Winery in Amador County; Senior Director of Winemaking for ground breaking Glen Ellen Winery in Glen Ellen; Winemaker for fun-loving Cline Cellars and Jacuzzi Family Vineyards in Sonoma

WINEMAKING PHILOSOPHY: Balance is everything. Make big flavorful red wines that have sharp edges and make crisp, fresh white wines that tantalize.

WINEMAKER QUOTE: ”Put ten of your favorite wines in a brown paper bags and taste them blind with your friends. I think you’ll like our wines.”

FIRST COMMERCIAL WINE RELEASE: 1981 Pendleton Monterey Chardonnay released in early ’82.

---

WINEMAKER INTERVIEW

AGENT RED: Greetings, Charlie. We are thrilled to be showing your 2009 Jacuzzi Family Vineyards Nero D’Avola today. This is a unique wine, and we thank you for taking some time to answer questions for our Operatives today.

CHARLIE: Thanks for having me, again!

RED: Was there a specific experience in your life that inspired your love of wine?

CHARLIE: A bottle of 1974 Charles Krug Reserve Cab spun my head around and I wanted to have a go at making something like that.

RED: What wine or winemaker has most influenced your winemaking style?

CHARLIE: I’ve had a chance to work with a lot of winemakers over the years and each has his “special” winemaking secrets and some of them even work. Joel Aiken who had been the Beaulieu Vineyards winemaker for years once asked me what my wine stood for and that really made me think that each wine I make should stand for something – in other words it should have it’s own signature and not just taste like something else in the lineup.

RED: Who do you make wine for?

CHARLIE: I make it according to my sense of balance and that seems to work out okay for the consumers, sales folks and reviewers. I do listen to what folks say about the wine and then try and refine the wine each vintage.

RED: Please tell me a little bit about the wine we are featuring today.

CHARLIE: The Jacuzzi 2009 Nero D’Avola is 100% Nero D’Avola meticulously farmed by Jeff Brown in his vineyard in the Tracy Hills appellation. This is a very popular grape in Sicily, Italy and is named “Avola Black” for the south eastern Sicilian town. It’s kind of like Syrah with big flavors of cherry and coffee and good color. This vintage has great acid and moderate alcohol of 13.5%.

RED: What is your favorite pairing with today’s wine?

CHARLIE: Homemade pizza or a prosciutto sandwich.

RED: In your opinion, what makes the Tracy Hills region so special?

CHARLIE: The region has been designated a ‘Mineral Resource Area” by US Geological Services because it is an area rich in minerals. It warms up well during the day, being part of the Central Valley, but then it gets cooling breezes coming through the Altamont Pass and over the hills. The region gets very little rainfall so it is easy to control the vigor of the vine by managing water availability. Jeff has planted a number of varieties that are hard or impossible to fine elsewhere in California – like Montepulciano, Nero D’Avola and Sagrantino.

RED: What is occupying your time at the winery these days?

CHARLIE: I am currently up to my eyeballs in grapes. We have been picking since the end of August and we have about five more days and we can call the harvest of 2011 a wrap.

RED: How would you recommend people approach your wines and wine in general?

CHARLIE: Pour it, ponder it and drink it. You’ll know if you like it and if my sense of balance works for you too.

RED: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

CHARLIE: Don’t take it too seriously – remember it started out as a grape.

RED: Thank you so much for your time. We learned a lot about you – and your wine. Keep up the great work, we are big fans!

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Jacuzzi Family Vineyards can be seen in this satellite photo.

Wine Spies Vineyard Check:

The location of the Jacuzzi Family Vineyards can be seen in this satellite photo.