“Saignée”, Terre Siciliane Rosso

The vines for Aldo’s red wines grow 30 kilometers from his home village of Alcamo, in a dry, hot microclimate not dissimilar to that of northern Africa, buffeted by the same scorching sirocco winds. “Saignée” blends roughly equal parts Nerello Mascalese, Perricone, and Syrah—which thrives in this zone’s parched heat as it does in Morocco’s. Aldo ferments it in steel with a week-long maceration, then ages it for a year in large Slavonian oak casks, bottling it with a miniscule dose of sulfur. The wine is ripe but controlled, with tenderly rendered bright red fruits complicated by a fascinating umami note not unlike that of high-quality tomato paste. Appropriately southern in its sun-drenched persona, this wine is nonetheless sprightly and highly drinkable.