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
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