Donnafugata & Dolce & Gabbana Launch a Rosato

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Donnafugata 2019 Dolce & Gabbana Rosa Sicilia 12.5% $45
This new collaboration between Donnafugata and Dolce & Gabbana is a study in classy restraint. It's a blend of Nerello Mascalese from Etna's northern slopes and Nocera from Contessa Entellina, hills that sit almost equally inland from Palmero and Marsala. It will be released in US retail stores this September.

While the label transports you to Sicily with its attendant, dynamic colors and patterns (as do Donnafugata's other beautiful labels), the wine suprisingly is more demure aromatically. However, it does reflect its dominant, feisty variety, Nerello Mascalese, in its intensely mineral-driven and somewhat austere and boldly structured frame. Thank goodness for the fruit-driven Nocera, which fills in the mid-palate. The blend results in a delicate, strawberry-scented wine with strains of raw oatmeal and fennel bulb. Dry, vivid and well-suited for food given its lightly drying tannins on the short finish, the only mystery is why this pleasant but rather straight-forward rosato is priced sky-high. I'm guessing it is the D&G sizzle factor, especially as Donnafugata generally delivers tremendous value-for-money.
Drink: 2020-21