Big Mamma's house

The nose on Big Mamma's Negro Amaro 2003 is deep and bold, with an actual heat to it. There's a sweetness there, though, a sugary coating on top of the essences of plum and cherry. It's not unpleasant, but it smells a little too sugary for my taste in reds.

The smell makes much more sense when you take a sip. It balances out with some much-needed acidity although the wine seems to lack an essential foundation of flavor. This pretty much keeps its finish clipped and uneventful. No grand revelations, no change of heart. Just sugar and alcohol. Maybe a little too much cherry.

I kind of wish I had a big plate of something — something Italian — to help coax out this wine's personality.

Postscript, while on glass No. 2: This wine has a beefy quality to it. It almost reminds me of jerky. There is an underlying meatiness to it. And the color is red-brownish. It's almost dirty-looking, which kind of lends to its homemade-by-mamma aesthetic, I guess.