Cusumano is after Planeta Sicily’s most well-known winery. They bottle 2.500.000 bottles each year and make 14 different wines. Cusumano also  manufactures olive oil as well as grappa. noà is Cusomano’s flagship wine. The winery even has its own iOS app which can be downloaded for free in Apple’s app store.

noà has a cuvée of 40% Nero d’Avola, 30% Merlot and 30% Cabernet-Sauvignon. The idea of blending international grapes with local autochthonic grapes is quite popular on Sicily. and a large variety of vintners manufactures wines with a similar cuvée. The wine aged for 12 months in new oak. The Gambero Rosso awarded this wine 2 out of 3 red glasses. Older vintages did better scoring higher. 14% is the label listed ABV. noà is classified as Sicilia IGT.

noà tasting notes

In the glass the wine had a dark ruby red color. Aromas of blackberries, leather and blackcurrant were most dominant. On the palate noà had a little bit of acidity. The wine was rather dry and quite fruity. There were herbs and silk as well. noà is somewhere between medium and full-bodied. Tannins were mellow and noà’s finish was somewhere between short and medium.

To buy or not to buy?

The wine is okay. Nothing special in my opinion. It retails for 19€. For that price I could name a few Sicilian wines that have a better price-quality relation. Planeta’s Cerasuolo di Vittoria Dorilli or Girolamo Russo’s ‘a Rina convinced me more. I might try a different vintage of the noà to see whether the wine can do better. The finish disappointed me the most. I think the wine deserves a much longer finish. If you’ve tasted the 2007 vintage or other vintages of Cusumano’s noà then please let me know if you liked the wine or not and why.

Side note:I was planing to drink a 1995 Plateo Montepulciano d’Abruzzo next to the 2005 vintage on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately the 1995 Plateo wasn’t good anymore so I quickly had to pick something else. The 2005 Plateo was stunning as usual though.