Wine Tasting in Sicily

We always love visiting new wine regions and learning abour the wines there. And, although we had tried Sicilian wines before (primarily Nero d'Avola, the most popular Sicilian grape), this trip was definitely an opportunity to learn a lot more about them.

The first thing we learned is that wine grapes are grown all over Sicily. We had thought that Mount Etna was the primariy growing region. And while it is definitely an important (and unique) region, in fact a lot more grapes are grown elsewhere in Sicily. We got lucky with our first tasting in Sicily because the large winery we chose, Donnafuggata, actually grows grapes all over the island, and also on another island -- Pantelleria -- which is part of Italy, but is closer to Africa than to Sicily. (Another destination to add to the list!)

The Donnafugata tasting was on the west side of the island, in a city called Marsala, which is known for marsala wine -- a fortified wine like port or sherry. However, they also grow white wine grapes silightly inland from the west coast, and our favorite wine from the Donnafuggata tasting was a white wine.

Wine tasting in Sicily often involves food -- a lot of it. Of the five tastings we did on the island, three included enough food to be considered at least a meal (in two cases on Etna, there was enough food that we ended up not needing dinner). At Donnafuggata, after a tour where we learned a bit about the company, but even more about Sicilian wines, we settled in to a very nice tasting of four wines, each with an accompanying "street" food:

The wine on the left in the picture above is very interesting. It is a dessert wine that is made from grapes and raisins. We enjoyed it a lot. Also, as you can see, the labels are very artistic. Donnafuggata works with an artist, Stefano Vitale, who designs their labels as part of their marketing. Overall, a very slick company.

Our second tasting was interesting because we did it in Italian. We decided at the last minute to try to go to Occhipinti in the Vittoria region (in the south) on our way between two of the cities we were staying in. We wanted to visit this winery because the winemaker is a woman, which is definitely not the norm in the world of wine, and the winery is entirely biological. We were able to visit only by joining an already-planned tour in Italian. Fortunately, between speaking Spanish and our already-existing wine knowledge, we felt we were able to understand a good amount of the tour. We did not love the Occhipinti wines, but they do export a bit to the US, so for anyone who would like to try them, here are the ones we tasted:

Our third tasting was our first on Mount Etna, at a relatively large winery called Benanti. We say relatively large, because the entire Etna sub-region only produces about 4 million bottles a year, so none of the 160 or so wineries on the mountain make a huge amount of wine. Etna wines are fascinating! Obviously, the fact that Etna is an active volcano means you are dealing with soil that is very rocky, but also very rich in nutrients. In addition, despite the extreme hear that they see in Sicily, because grapes on Etna are grown at altitude (generally between 2,500 and 3,500 feet), it is much cooler, which drastically changes the growing process, and the wines. For example, Etna vines are harvested much later than those elsewhere in Sicily.

Benanti was the first of the wineries where we had enough food during our tasting to cover both lunch and dinner.

In addition to what you can see in the pictures, we started by tasting a sparkling wine (very good) with three crostini with olive oil, sundried tomatoes and cheese, respectively. Then, in addition to the large cheese and meat plate, there was caponata -- a Sicilian vegetarian specialty, which did not necessarily contain olives as we expected, that we ate a lot during our trip -- as well as a full pasta course and dessert! We were stuffed.

We also enjoyed the wines very much, although we were a bit surprised at how high the prices were (given our experience with European wines), but that is apparently normal for Etna wines, although the prices were better at our next stop: Gambino Vini.

Gambino Vini was the other winery that provided so much food that we did not eat dinner, but we do not have a picture, because it was brought a bit at a time, so we just kept on eating. Like Benanti, we tried five wines including a sparkling wine. And, again, we enjoyed the wines a lot.

We were also impressed with Gambino Vini's offer to ship wine anywhere in Europe for free, so we bought a few (OK, seven) bottles and had them shipped to San Sebastian so we can continue to enjoy the wines of Etna here, since we know that it is difficult if not impossible to find non-Spanish wines in our area.

Our final wine tasting was a very cool experience because it was at a tiny winery called Scirto. We discovered this winery when we asked our guide at Occhipinchi for a small winery to try on Etna since it is often difficult to visit smaller wineries. He recommended Scirto as he knew the couple who are the owners/winemakers. Even so, we think we got lucky because we once again joined a tour being given to an American woman living in Northern Italy who owns a restaurant that serves Scirto wines in a small town. We suspect that they might not generally do tastings for the public, but because they were doing one for a customer, we were able to join.

Scirto is interesting because the owners are pretty much doing whatever they want, and not following any of the "rules" of winemaking. For example, they do not use any oak barrels at all in making their wines, aging even their red wines in steel casks. Basically, the vines have been in the family of the husband for generations, and although his father had not made wine, he decided to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and make wine. When we were there, the harvest had already taken place, but they showed us pictures of the grapes on the vines, some of which were growing both red and white grapes at the same time. We had never seen that before. So, although the Scirto wines were not our favorites, they were really interesting, and they probably appeal to a niche audience.

All in all, we really enjoyed wine tasting in Sicily, and would definitely recommend trying Sicilian wines if you get a chance. From our discussions with the wineries, a good amount of Sicilian (including Etna) wines are exported to the US, so you just have to look around.

In vino veritas.

Jeff and Shana

Sicily – An Island Filled with History and Cannoli

Continuing our 2021 travels, we recently returned from a two-week trip to Sicily. We were looking to travel in November and wanted a semi-warm destination, which is how we chose Sicily. We were impressed by the unique elements of Sicily’s history and the opportunity to explore an entire region over an extended period.

This was Jeff’s first opportunity to drive in Italy, and after driving in Ireland, it almost seemed easy. While the Italians have a reputation for being crazy drivers, at least in Sicily, their driving overall was not outrageous – except for the scooters. If you understand that in Italy, each driver is going to do what he or she has to do to get where they are going, you will expect the aggressive moves and you can almost predict what will happen – except for the scooters. And when you need to make a move, you know that the Italians understand that you’re doing what you have to do as well. Jeff did a fabulous job and enjoyed the hilly and switchback roads we encountered in the southeast especially.

As you might expect, the best part of Sicily is the food and wine. We enjoy the pasta so much in Italy that we generally avoid eating pasta elsewhere. Sicilian pasta is delicious with a lot of eggplant (a la Norma) and seafood options. We ate more fish and drank more white wine than expected and it was amazing. Living on the Atlantic side of Spain, we don’t get swordfish, so we really took advantage of the opportunity to eat it. Jeff really enjoyed the shellfish – spaghetti and clams at our first lunch:

And then there’s the pastry. We researched the best cannoli, and it was in a small town called Datillo between Palermo and Trapani (on the west coast). We weren’t disappointed but I’m not sure I’d say it was the absolute best cannoli in my life, but it was the largest for sure:

While in Bologna three years ago we noticed that there was an option to have gelato with brioche, which we found odd and never tried. Why would you eat bread with ice cream? In Sicily we saw the option to have granita with brioche at breakfast, and this time we tried it and it was delicious:

The sweetness of the brioche combines perfectly with the sugary granita. The Sicilians eat a lot of pastry, especially at breakfast. The number of sweet options at breakfast was unreal and the quantity of bakeries to investigate was overwhelming.

Lastly, there are a ton of stray cats in Sicily. Many seemed well-fed and happy (these three were on Ortigia, an island that is part of the city of Siracusa):

As you can tell, it was a delightful trip. We did an entire loop of the island starting on the western side in Trapani, heading south to the amazing Greek ruins in Agrigento, turning inland to enjoy the Baroque hill towns in and around Ragusa, going east to the coastal regions of Siracusa and Catania, spending time on Mount Etna, and finishing up in Palermo. It was a lot of driving – 1000 miles – but it was worth it.

More details to come soon,

Shana & Jeff

A Chorus Line - In Spanish!

After enjoying Ireland in August, we started planning various trips to finish out 2021. We selected Sicily for early November because we figured we would have decent weather there. The best way to get to Sicily was to fly from Madrid, which gave us the opportunity to visit our dear friends Carlos and Ploy, who moved there earlier this year. And it also meant we could do something we had not done yet in Spain – go to the theater. While we’ve seen movies, concerts, and even a magic show, we haven’t seen a theatrical production. (I’m not counting the local high school production of “Legally Blonde” we saw a while back, which was cute and well done, but was still a high school show.)

I knew that Antonio Banderas had put together and starred in a production of “A Chorus Line” at his theater in Malaga, and when I saw it was playing in Madrid and that there were reasonably priced tickets available, I thought, why not? It’s not a complicated show after all – the plot line is simple, and the entire show happens in one place. (Sadly, Antonio wasn’t performing in Madrid.)

It wasn’t clear how much of the production would be in Spanish. Sometimes dialogue is changed to Spanish and musical numbers are in their original English version, but sometimes not. Plus, the previews online were showing the signature number “One” being sung in English. Of course, many of the songs in “A Chorus Line” serve as dialogue. Just in case, we “watched” an English version on YouTube while making dinner over several nights. Being familiar with the music in a show can sometimes be helpful regardless of the language of the performance.

The entire show was performed in Spanish, except for the encore/finale performance of “One.” So, it was good we had listened to it before attending. Overall, we understood nearly all of the show. The typical obstacles were present – fast and quiet speakers/singers and noisy audience members. Other than the overly warm theater (typical of the US as well), we enjoyed the show.

Chalk it up to one more “we did it in Spanish” experience. We’re not ready for plays or comedy in Spanish yet, but now we know we can handle familiar musicals.

Blog posts about our trip to Sicily coming soon!

Ciao,

Shana & Jeff

Hondalea -- Art on an Island

 

Having lived in San Sebastian now for more than 4 years, we are embarrassed to admit that, until recently, we had not visited Santa Clara – the tiny island that sits in the entrance to the La Concha Bay. We have intended for some time to swim there, but even though we swam several times in the bay this summer, we still haven’t made the journey. (The swim is less than 1 km depending on which beach you leave from so we would have no problem making it.) On October 28, we finally made our first island visit. The occasion was a guided tour of Hondalea, the newest art installation in San Sebastian by Christina Iglesias – a local artist.

As you’ll see from the photos, Hondalea is a unique artistic concept. It is built into the abandoned lighthouse on Santa Clara and is intended to reflect the peculiar geology of the Basque coast. It takes a place of sanctuary to provide an opportunity to reflect on nature and human interaction with it.

We read about the city’s plans to underwrite the artwork and make it free to visit, other than the cost of getting to the island by the local tourist boat (swimmers can go for free!), and as expected the plan provoked a “polemica” (controversy) over the use of public funds for “art.” Of course, the best way to evaluate controversy is to see it up close.

We met our tour group after a fabulous lunch with friends. It was a 2-hour tour of the island and of the art installation – including the boat ride over and back. (Yes, the “Gilligan’s Island” song came to mind – although that was a 3-hour tour.) Interestingly, hardly any of the locals on the tour had visited the island recently. Thus, Hondalea has already stimulated an increased interest in the island. Here’s a photo from the trip over:

Our guide provided a history of the island and explained the artwork, but ultimately it was up to us to experience and interpret the art for ourselves. I had the mistaken impression that the art incorporated the water’s natural flow around the island. When I learned that the water flowing in and out of the piece was pumped in, I was disappointed. The piece is simple – the water flows in and out like the ocean’s current or waves. It can be mesmerizing and peaceful to contemplate as you stare into the sculpture, which can be viewed from multiple angles and heights:

Thus, the artwork achieves its intended purpose. But one can’t help but think about the cost of the installation and whether the city’s resources could have been used in a more effective way. Hondalea will generate interest in the island and the environmental preservation concepts it is intended to elicit, but is it worth it? The arts are important, and Europe is far better at supporting the arts than the US, but does San Sebastian need a lighthouse with a poured bronze art installation? Maybe yes, maybe no. Who am I to say?

We enjoyed the tour a lot – all in Spanish, of course. It was the perfect way to spend one of the last sunny days of early fall. I’m still contemplating the value question a few weeks later.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

Back to Lisbon

When making our plans to travel to the United States, we discovered that not only did TAP (the Portuguese airline) have the best flights/prices, it gave us the option to spend up to five nights in Portugal for no additional cost either going to or returning from the US. Since we have enjoyed Lisbon so much on our two previous visits, we decided to take this opportunity to spend a further three nights in the city.

As usual, Lisbon did not disappoint. First, even after having been in Lisbon before, there were still things we had not done, including the National Tile Museum. Although this didn't sound that interesting to me, Shana wanted to go, and it was a relatively small museum so... In the end, it was  quite enjoyable (if a bit poorly organized). It included a lot of traditional tiles, which can be seen all over Portugal, but also some more modern takes on the genre, which we both particularly enjoyed. 

On our walk back from the Tile Museum, we walked through the city's old Alfama district and got a great look at one of the city's old public trams, which still run in this part of the city.

We also learned something that we had not known about Portugal: bull fighting used to be popular there. We learned this on our way to dinner our first night in the city when we got off the Metro and saw a really cool building that we had to check out. It turns out that the building is the former bull ring that has been turned into a multi-use space with restaurants, shops, etc. Notice the very Moorish look of the building -- the Moors ruled Portugal as well as Spain.

The other cultural thing we did in Lisbon was attend an exhibition by the Chinese dissident artist Ai Wei Wei who now lives in rural Portugal. The exhibit and his methods of using his art to make political statements were extremely interesting. His use of traditional Chinese Zodiac symbols in various forms including kites were very cool:

The carpet that is below the kites is even more interesting: it was made from an imprint of the tracks made by a tank on a dirt track southwest of Beijing and are intended to recall the tanks in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Even more interesting to me were the works relating to refugees, which included a number of documentaries, and two HUGE replicas of the boats used by refugees fleeing various countries in North Africa and the Middle East for Europe. One was made of the same cheap rubber material that the boats are made of, but Ai used that material to make both the boat, and the anonymous people on board (oh, by the way, the boat is over 300 feet long!). Kind of creepy:

Finally, no trip to Lisbon would be complete without a wine tasting with Adriana at our favorite place in the city, Lisbon Winery. Unfortunately, Adriana and her partner shut down their location early on in the pandemic to save from having to pay rent while being unable to open. Fortunately, although they have not identified a new location yet, they still do tastings at various restaurants around the city. Our tasting was in a downstairs room with one other couple, and included a tasting of three olive oils, lots of cheese and meat, and of course wine.

The other couple who joined us at the tasting were Canadian (so, of course, we liked them), but it turned out that he is not only a chef, but was the winner of Top Chef Canada 2019! In fact, he calls himself the Competition Chef as he won the last three cooking competitions he entered. Hopefully, we will get a chance to have him cook for us one day, although they live in a small town on Victoria Island, which is a four hour drive from Victoria! We will see.

As you can see, it was a full three days in Lisbon, but we felt it was a good reintroduction to Europe after more than three weeks in the US.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana