($100, Cru Artisan): I can see the rolling eyes.  A hundred bucks for an unknown wine from, where?  Sicily?  Yes.  I can’t pretend to know how people should spend their money on wine.  But what I can tell you is that this is a special wine, delivering the ethereal Burgundian combination of flavor without weight.  Palari, the name of the estate and of the wine, comes from a miniscule DOC, Faro, which was on the verge of extinction until Salvatore Greci, an architect, started to resurrect it a couple of decades ago.  A blend of the expected grapes from Etna, Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio (along with some other indigenous ones), it’s a monumental wine, not it terms of size — this is not an overstuffed Syrah — but it terms of intensity, complexity and grace.  It’s a near magical combination of dried and fresh fruit, minerals and herbs.  Oak aging rounds it out without intruding at all.  Harmonious and young, it should develop beautifully over the years.  But, hey, if you can’t wait, try it now with a veal chop.
95 Michael Apstein Apr 5, 2016