The Fire Tree, Nero d'Avola Appassimento, Sicily, 2017

Appassimento is the term for drying out the grapes before fermenting in order to achieve more texture, colour and intensity of flavour. It's a common practice in the area around Venice, where Amarone and some Valpolicellas are made like this, and so to find it in Sicily at this price-point is quite exciting! In this case, the grapes have been dried for 20 days, boosting the sugar levels to 12g/l and giving richness to the ripe cherry and raspberry fruit. It's actually quite a light wine, but it has textural depth, making it great for lamb or tomato-based pasta dishes. There aren't many wines under £5 that I can recommend, but this is one of them.