The Italy Wine Project

Regions / Sicily

DOCStill huntingNear impossible

Riesi DOC

A DOC on the hot, dry hills between Caltanissetta and the Gela coast, created in 2001 and barely used. Nero d'Avola here is ripe and heavy: black plum, prune, licorice, warm alcohol and soft tannin. Feudo Principi di Butera, the Zonin estate, sits in the zone but labels its wines Sicilia DOC, which tells you how commercially useful the name is.

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Bottles I'm chasing

ProducerWinePriceBuy
Feudo Principi di Butera
Nero d'Avola Deliella (estate in the Riesi zone, labeled Sicilia DOC)
The only notable estate inside the boundary; its wines are widely available in the US but not under the Riesi name, so this tastes the terroir rather than ticking the box.
$35 to $45Wine-Searcher
Cantina Sociale Riesi (local cooperative)
Riesi Rosso
Small local bottlings occasionally carry the DOC; ask in Riesi or Caltanissetta.
Price unknownWine-Searcher