Domenico Wines

Dominick Churichillo grew up in New Jersey and making wine was as much a part of the family routine as making pasta. He remembers being in the basement with his grandfather, helping to crush grapes trucked in from California. This gave him the idea to start his own custom crush facility where people could bring their own fruit or buy some of his procurement to turn into their own liquid pain relievers. He rarely got any true Italian varietals when he lived in New Jersey, but once he relocated to California he found a candy store everywhere he traveled.

The Montepulciano grapes for this wine come from, of all places, Pixley, CA, which is in the heart – and the heat – of the Central Valley. God bless the old Italian farmers who are still planting old varieties like these. The aromas are filled with notes of mushrooms and peppers, with herbaceous notes of fennel along with brambleberries and coffee. Well-structured, this wine has nice flavours of plums, cranberries, cherries and brown sugar. The structure is lean and focused, and the acid is great. I was looking for the perfect cheese to pair with this and thought instantly of Grana Padano, accompanied by peppered salami. Bellissimo!

Reviewed February 6, 2008 by Laura Ness.