The island of Sicilia (also known as Sicily), is situated at the foot of Italy and is one of the country’s most important regions in terms of wine production. The hilly and mountainous terrain coupled with scorching temperatures, unbroken sunshine and low rain fall also make ideal conditions for the most beautifully ripe fruit and vegetables.

Deriving its name from the town of Avola on the Island’s southern tip, the red Nero d’Avola truly is a Sicilian great. These wines are generally big, long lived reds, with sweet tannins, and plummy-like dark fruits. Many winemakers would compare it to Syrah in the way it’s treated in the vineyard.

The native white wine, Catarratto, is crisp and appealing. It accounts for around 38% of plantings, and is primarily used as a table wine in Sicily, although there are some interesting examples, the best of which show good characteristics with lovely citrussy notes. There’s not much Catarratto available in Ireland, but it’s well worth a try if you have the opportunity to buy.

Sicily has a number of co-operatives, one from which we have sourced an award winning Nero d’Avola and a Catarratto under the name of Doricum. We were very impressed by the price vs quality ratio of both, in particular the red.

Feudi di Sant’Eufamia is the name of the co-operative, whose members own a massive 4,500 hectares in the Salemi area of western Sicily. The aim of the group is to produce wines of a consistently high quality that express the local terroir and grape varieties whilst being approachable, fresh and modern.

I would say those goals have been achieved in style. Remember the name - Doricum.