Palari 2014 Faro Palari

Faro is one of Italy's smallest and most obscure DOC appellations — a tiny zone at the very northeastern tip of Sicily near Messina, where terraced old-vine plots cling to steep, sun-drenched slopes overlooking the Strait of Messina. Salvatore Geraci of Palari — an architect by trade — revived this nearly extinct appellation in the 1990s after discovering the extraordinary potential of the neglected terraced vineyards near his family's property. Palari Faro is the benchmark wine of the appellation: a complex blend of Nerello Mascalese and other local varieties from 50–100-year-old vines, fermented and aged in a combination of Slovenian oak and small barrels. The 2014 vintage, now with a decade of age, shows the wine's remarkable development: deep and structured, with dried red fruit, leather, Mediterranean scrubland, volcanic mineral character, and a long, savory finish of real complexity. A genuinely rare and historically significant Sicilian red.

Food Pairings: Roasted lamb with herbs, wild boar, pasta with rich meat sauce, aged Ragusano cheese, grilled swordfish with caponata, dark mushroom dishes