In startling contrast to present day, Sicily was famous in antiquity for its agricultural produce, (mainly wheat and wines).
Greeks of antiquity, Spaniars, and Moors occupied this largest island of the Mediterranean Sea, before it was unified with mainland Italy.
Even today Moorish influence in Sicilian cuisine is noticeably present.
For a long time in t eh 20th century, Sicily increased its wine production. Occasionally there was so much that a large portion of it had to be distilled to commercial alcohol. And in
addition thousands of hectolitres were exported in bulk to Piedmont and France mainly for vermouth production.
In the 1990’s with improved technology and much financial help from the EU, local wineries invested in better equipment, locating better parcels of land for grape cultivation, and selecting grape varieties appropriate to the soil type at hand, and training young and talented winemakers.
New vineyards were established on high altitude (from 200 – 1200 metres above sea level) with improved clones of local and international varieties.
Today approximately 85 per cent of varieties planted are indigenous i.e cataratto, inzolia (a.k.a ansonica), fiano, grillo for white; and nero d’avola, frapatto, nerello mascalese, cerasuolo, di Vittoria; and the remainder international varieties like chardonnay, syrah, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, even pinot noir.
There are 120 000 hectares of vineyards producing 65 per cent white and 35 red wines.
30 per cent of vineyards are on flatland, 65 on hillocks, and five on hills.
Of all grape varieties planted, cataratto constitutes the largest percentage, which is also used as major constituent in Marsala blends.
According to professor Attilio Scienza, who recently gave a lecture on Sicilian vitiviniculture in Toronto, part of Sicily originates in the African continent, which has older, richer soil than that of the European continent.
The DNA of grape varieties can be traced back to ancient Greek, for example rhoditis, a popular Greek grape variety in Greece today, is the forerunner of inzolia. There was a lot of trade between Tuscany and Sicily, and according to the good professor the parents of sangiovese are a cross between cilegiolo and Calabresi di Montenuovo. Sangiovese is the most widely planted red grape variety of Italy today..
Soils in Sicily vary from calcareous, to clay mixed with sand, volcanic from Etna, and mixtures of all.
Although Sicily is the largest wine producer of Italy, only 20 per cent of the production is bottles; the rest is sold in bulk for blending, vermouth production and commercial alcohol distillation.
Today modern grape growers and estates plant vineyards on high altitude to take advantage of diurnal temperature changes and lower temperatures than of flatlands.
Quality oriented estates prune severely, irrigate parsimoniously, hand pick grapes, press gently, and use modern techniques for fermentation for white wines, and barrel aging for red.
Sicilian wines are priced with value in mind and Canada is the fifth largest importer of this sunny island’s products.
A recent wine tasting of Sicilian wines proved that delicate, aromatic, light to medium-bodied wines can be produced successfully, using indigenous varieties and/blends with international grape varieties. Winemakers prefer chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, syrah, and occasionally also cabernet franc. .
Red wines range from full-bodied and vibrant to light and everything in between. Nero d’avola stands out when expertly handled by caring winemakers; bur frappato is the only one that enjoys D O C G status. Some wineries bend cabernet sauvignon, merlot and syrah, others nero d’avola with others.
The islands of Pantelleria southwest of Sicily int eh Mediterranean Sea and Lipari in the Thernian Sea are famous for their sweet wines.
Zibbibo (Muscat dÀlexandrie originally form Egypt) is the basis of Muscato di Pantelleria which uses 50 per cent fully dried zibbibo, and the remainder is freshly pressed must. Once the fermentation stops, the crushed raisinised grapes are added to the dry wine to increase alcohol content, and sweeten it. The wine is balanced, high in alcohol, seductively fruity and extremely aromatic.
The wineries that stood out in this tasting are: Azienda Agricola Planeta, Trapani, Casa Vinicola Di Grazia, Feudo Disisa, Feudo di Santa Tresa, Tasca dÀlmerita and Abraxas from Pantelleria.
If quality improvements continue and consistency maintained, Sicily can become one of the main soruces of reasonably prices quality wines once agaian.
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Tags: SICILY
