Sfera Rosato Nero d'Avola

Sfera Litro Rosato NV 80% Nero d’Avola, 15% Perricone, 5% Catarratto • Partinico, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

Red and black berry on the nose with white peach and wild strawberry, then something mineral and salty hits the mid-palate — that savoury thing that makes you think about the sea. Dry, crisp, medium body, the kind of rosato that doesn’t read as a “serious wine” until you’re three glasses in and realizing it has the backbone for raw beef or cracked crab.

This is Cossentino’s land, certified organic, 2.5 hectares planted with vines twenty-five to thirty years old in red sand and clay. Sea shells are still common in the vineyards — the whole area was under water once, and salt is basically baked into the terroir. Sfera presses everything together and ferments it spontaneously in stainless steel, the old way, the way winemakers used to work before they started fussing over categories. Ten months on the lees in tank, no clarification so the wine keeps its natural color, thirty milligrams of sulfur at bottling. Twelve percent alcohol, unfiltered. There’s something honest about it — the grapes got pressed, they fermented, it sat and developed, and that’s the wine.

Pair it with: Chill it down, pull it out for the patio, something with salt and acid — grilled prawns, tomato salad, the kind of casual eating where the wine disappears and you just keep pouring.