Gaja is investing in Etna!” exclaimed Gusieppe Benanti at the press conference in Radicepura, during Sicilia En Primeur. Benanti then went on to say that if Gaja invests in Etna it augers well for the region and the world should take note of it.
I was attending Sicilia En Primeur, the much sought-after tasting of the current vintage in Sicily curated by Assovini Sicilia, a consortium of Sicilian wine producers, for the international wine community. I travelled around southeastern Sicily covering nearly 500km, tasting the region’s wines and food, visiting wineries and soaking in the atmosphere.
This was followed by a two-day tasting at the garden festival at Radicepura, where I attended masterclasses, experienced a sommelier-tasting and met the top producers of Sicily. This is where I met Benanti, one of the biggest wine makers of Sicily. The news that Angelo Gaja, the celebrated wine maker of Italy, has taken interest in the vines of Etna, was no doubt quite a good news. And why not?
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean. In viticulture terms, it is almost a continent with extremely variegated soils and micro-climates ranging from the island of Pantelleria in the southeast to the snowcapped peaks of Mount Etna — covering areas such as Noto, Vittoria, Trapani, Erice, Menfi — all of which take advantage of the special climate to express its wines. It is this diversity that makes this island so unique.
Harvesting could start as early as July and go on till early November in some years. This mosaic of terroirs reflects the island’s diversity, giving rise to many indigenous grape varieties that thrive solely on this island.
My journey started in Catania, my first stop at the Terre di Giurfo winery. Located near Vittoria, the winery is run by a gentleman named Dario and his mother. This is a typical Nero D’ Avola country, the quintessential red grape of Sicily.
After tasting the full range of Dario’s wines — Grillo, Insolia, Frappato, Nero D’ Avola and Cerasuolo di Vittoria — all were of very good quality, we were treated to a dinner at the winery, where Dario teamed up with Michelin-starred chef Dario Di Liberto, who runs a restaurant in nearby Ragusa.
The dinner was a gastronomical tour de force paired with wines of Terre di Giurfo. Starting with a selection of local salami and cheese with home-made compote, we moved to a creamy ricotta cheese ravioli with wild fennel and lamb ragout, coal-roasted artichokes, sardines stuffed with rice, black arancino with pork ragout and cuttlefish. The main course highlight was roasted pork shank with carob syrup.
My next visit was to the Valle Dell’Acate winery in Contrada Bidini, run by Gaetana Jacono, the sixth generation of the family that runs the winery. It is a fairly large winery with 100 hectares of vines producing nearly 400,000 bottles. What is unique about the winery is that each type of grape is grown in a different type of soil best suited for that variety. Of the many wines I tasted, the two that stood out for me was Cerasuolo di Vittoria, a wonderful wine with notes of marmalade, aged balsamic and violets — medium length with good acidity and supple tannins. The other wine is Il Frappato, made from Frappato grapes; the wine is fresh with good acidity and lively red fruits. Of all the Frappato that I tasted during my visit, this is the best and arguably the best Frappato in Sicily.
Gaetana is a regular visitor to our country and hopes that wine drinkers in India will be able to taste her wines soon.
Our next stop was the Maggio Vini winery, a fairly large one with 100 hectares of vines producing wines such as Grillo, Frappato, Nero d’ Avola and Cerasuolo di Vittoria. They also have some 50-year-old Nero d’ Avola bush vines making outstanding wines. A typical Italian lunch was spread out with accompanying wines, including a sparkling Frappato.
Post-lunch, I headed to the Baron Sergio winery, run by a father-and-daughter duo, producing about 100,000 bottles. Their wines are the wines of the region — Grillo for white and Nero D’ Avola for red. They also make an outstanding Moscato Passito, a sweet dessert wine. I tasted the 2007 vintage. Amazing sweetness without being cloying with sweet honeysuckle, with a sweet pea aroma and a light golden colour.
Late afternoon, I visited the Zisola winery whose owners are from the famous estate in Chianti Classico. We were met at the entrance by Filippo Mazzei, the current owner, who took us around the winery explaining his philosophy of winemaking and also his rationale behind setting up a winery in Sicily, far away from the heartland of Chianti.
It is a small winery of about 23 hectares, producing about 135,000 bottles. The 27 parcels of vineyards range from about 95 meters to about 135 meters above sea level. The vineyards are planted not only with Grillo and Nero D’ Avola but other varieties as well, namely Syrah, Cataratto and Petit Verdot.
Over aperitifs and then through dinner, we tasted the wonderful wines of Zisola — Grillo, Nero D’ Avola and Syrah. My favourite was the 2014 Petit Verdot called Effe Emme, taken from the initials of Filippo Mazzei’s name. Not a common wine in Sicily, it had notes of minerals and dried flowers on the nose; big and fleshy mouthfeel and a long finish with a promise that the wine can age for years.
We spent the night at Villa Favorita, a relais and restored manor house overlooking the beautiful baroque town of Noto.
Next day we visited two wineries before reaching Santa Tecla where over the following two days we had an intensive tasting of over 300 Sicilian wines covering the entire island. It was a wonderful experience as tasting the wines with sommelier service, attending masterclasses and then meeting the producers was a complete experience of the wines that Sicily has to offer.
The first of the two wineries I visited was Feudo Maccari, set up in 2000. Spread over 170 hectares, producing nearly 250,000 bottles of wine, the winery’s uniqueness lies in the fact that all the vines are bush vines, known as Alberello, that imparts unique flavours to the wine. Feudo Maccari has successfully carried out this style for both its white as well as red wines. We tasted all their wines; Grillo, Nero D’ Avola and Syrah. We also tasted wines from their sister winery located in Etna, a Carricante white and a Nerello Mascalese red. Both these wines by Santo Spirito were wonderful and expressive of the Etna terroir.
Next, we moved to San Giuliano, a seven-hectare winery set up by Marchesi di San Giuliano in collaboration with Peter Vinding-Diers, a wine guru who settled in Sicily after making wines in Bordeaux, South Africa and Australia, bringing with him more than 50 years of winemaking knowledge.
Over a typical Sicilian lunch, tasting the wines of Peter Vinding-Diers, and listening to his stories of winemaking across the globe was invigorating. His Cuvee Suzanne, a wine named after his wife, is an elegant and beautifully balanced wine, a top ranking Syrah in Sicily.
By early evening we reached Santa Tecla. The next two days were reserved for intensive tasting and masterclasses. I would like to highlight the masterclass on Grillo, conducted by Emma Dowson, master of wine and principle buyer at Marks & Spencer UK. According to her, Grillo wines once were innovations, but now they are classics and should be on the wine list of every restaurant.
KNOW YOUR GRILLO
Grillo, a traditional Sicilian grape variety, is the fruit of a crossing of Cattarato Bianco and Muscat d’ Alexandria. Historically, Grillo has been planted in Trapani where it is the basic grape variety for the Marsala DOC wines. The berry is of medium length and width and greenish-yellow in colour. It has a short growing season and the grapes are usually picked by early September.
The colour of the wine ranges from light straw to deep yellow with greenish highlights... The aromas are intense with notes of citrus fruit, yellow and red grapefruit, some spices and flowers like oleander and jasmine. The wines usually have a good balance of alcohol and acidity. It is best drunk young but can also mature for a small period of bottle ageing. It is an ideal paring with seafood salad, soft cheese, fried calamari, grilled vegetables and fish.
This wine has tremendous potential in India, if only it was marketed well and importers had a kind view towards it! The wine has a very good price to quality ratio, but unfortunately very few Grillo wines are available in India. Calcutta consumers must try it at the first given opportunity.
MY SIX FAVOURITE GRILLO (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER OF PREFERENCE)
(Subhasis Ganguli is the president of Kolkata Wine Commune)
