2007 Dievole ‘Pinocchio’ Red Wine; I’m Not Gonna Lie…

…it’s not bad at all; especially for ten bucks!

When I put the word out that I was on the hunt for good bottles for ten bucks, my friend from Pasternak Distributors came through with a couple of suggestions, and this one caught my eye. Dievole is a big producer in Tuscany, but Pinocchio is 100% Nero d’ Avola from Sicily. Nero d’ Avola is the primary wine grape grown in Sicily.

Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much from a ten dollar Italian wine, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a nice, easy-drinker with more going on than I expected. It has a nice, dark magenta tint, with lots of ripe fruit on the nose, and depending on how honest you are, maybe a lot of nose on the fruit (insert rim-shot and/or loud groan here). On the palate, it’s good and big and those fruit notes continue: blackberry and strawberry, and it gets interesting with a layer of minerals and herbs adding a complexity that I rarely find at this price point.

Try an honest taste of Sicily for a mere ten-spot.