Pasta is a passion at our house, so we are always delighted to find a great pasta wine at an attractive price.

Feudo Arancio Nero d'Avola 2007, Sicily

PLCB # 9338, $9.99 (on sale)

This native grape of Sicily produces a rustic wine with great character and a strong sense of terroir. There are aromas of black cherries, cassis and roasted nuts, with a touch of anise. With noticeable but tolerable tannins, it's a masculine wine that stands up to tomato sauces and pairs especially well with puttanesca. The anchovies and olives in the sauce are elements of the Sicilian culinary vocabulary that are as much a part of this terroir as is the nero d'Avola grape variety. The wine smooths out to satin when washing down bucatini dressed in puttanesca.

Feudo Arancio Nero d'Avola has won a number of best-buy ratings from wine publications. They also make a premium wine, Hedonis, a blend of nero d'Avola and syrah, that is not available in our state stores.

The winery is part of a larger wine partnership, Gruppo Mezzacorona, which originated more than 100 years ago in the Dolomites in Northern Italy. Today they have a large portfolio of wines with different names from many regions of the country. I have found the Feudo Arancio and Mezzacorona labels to be reliable value-priced wines.

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