From Etna Bianco to Marsala, a Sicilian Wine Tour #ItalianFWT

Posted by foodwineclick on April 3, 2015 · 13 Comments 

A Virtual Visit to Sicily with #ItalianFWT
Our #ItalianFWT group is off to Sicily this month (virtually). I’ve included links at the bottom of this post to see what everyone else is up to!

Sicily
Sicily is a large island, just off the toe of the boot of Italy, bordered by 3 different seas. It’s the agricultural source of so much food, Sicily is known as the granary of Italy. The produce grown here includes: oranges, lemons, capers, wild fennel, almonds, pistachios, olives, lots of grains and of course, grapes for both wine and table. Close proximity to all those seas means that seafood is abundant, especially swordfish. Lastly, situated as it is, many cultures have influenced the history and foods in Sicily, so we see new flavors and combinations unique to this part of Italy.

Beautiful image of Sicily, complete with Mt. Etna plume. Photo courtesy of NASA

Beautiful image of Sicily, complete with Mt. Etna plume. Photo courtesy of NASA

Sicilian Wine
The majority of Sicily is hot and dry, although you can see from the green on the satellite photo, the north and east are a bit cooler and get more precipitation. Historically, Sicily has produced a huge amount of bulk wine that never saw a bottle in Sicily, as it was shipped off in container ships to other winemaking areas for use in blending.  Sicilian base wines were useful to add fruit and alcohol to thinner wines from cooler climates.

Lucky for us, there has been a renaissance in recent years. Thanks to much better vineyard and cellar work, many of the wines carry a liveliness, brisk acidity and restraint. The winegrowing renaissance in Sicily has proceeded faster than the DOC laws, so this is one region where you shouldn’t hesitate to buy IGT labeled wines.  They are certainly some of the best on the island!

Sampling wines and food from the region over the last month has been a blast, here’s a mini-tour of the foods and wines we have tried.  I’ll post a few of our favorite combinations in more detail over the coming weeks. (click on any photo to view full size slideshow)

Back in our Trentino – Alto Adige virtual visit, I had trouble finding a single dedicated cookbook. NOT a problem for Sicily!
Capers are a big part of many dishes in this region. Capers packed in salt are so much cooler than the tiny ones in brine. You need to get some!
Starting at the far NE corner, we have goat Messina, named after the town and the straits. We’re almost touching the toe of Italy’s boot.
There is also Etna Bianco, typically a blend of Carricante and Catarratto.
Wines from this area come from the lower reaches of the Mt. Etna volcano. Etna Rosso is mostly Nerello Mascalese. A lovely medium bodied red wine.
During our virtual tour, we almost exclusively drink wines from the region. 100% Nerello Mascalese, the Passopisciaro reminded me of a nice Pinot Noir
Italy gets in the act with Etna Rosso
Several Sicilian winegrowers make skin-fermented white wines.
An excellent example of the many excellent IGT labeled wines. This is a blend of Frappato and Nero d’Avola. Medium body but quite tannic.
Pistachios! Sicilian pistachios are special, but we don’t see them in Minnesota. California pistachios will suffice.
New flavor cominations with fresh Marlin, pasta, tomatoes, capers, and topped with pistachios, of course.
The red wine was good, but the skin-fermented white wine was just perfect with the seafood pasta.
Also in Vittoria, this Valle dell’Acate Frappato is a refreshing light body red wine and it takes a bit of a chill beautifully
More seafood pasta, this time featuring a pistachio pesto sauce.
Frappato is a great choice for a light red to go with seafood. Refreshing!
Our last Vittoria area wine, this Nero d’Avola reset my expectations for wines from this grape. Medium color and body, backed up by firm tannins.
The Tami Nero d’Avola was good with the lamb, but it was a bit light of body for those rich lamb chops.
Finally, we’re moving to the western part of Sicily, near the town of Marsala. A refreshing primo with blood oranges, thinly sliced fennel and roasted olives
Refreshing, flinty and acidic, the Donnafugata Anthilia was a nice match for the blood orange salad.
This Nero d’Avola is big, deep, dark and luscious. It was a beautiful wine, and would be good with a super rich meat, maybe barbecued ribs. I would like to have tried it with the lamb chops, maybe next time!
Dry Marsala isn’t really dry, it’s just lightly sweet.
Sweet Marsala is very sweet, but good examples have a balancing acidity.

#Italian FWT for April
If you enjoy this post for the #ItalianFWT visit to Sicily, join my fellow bloggers and what they have to share on their sites.

Vino Travels – Wine & Food of Sicily: Inzolia & Arancini
Curious Appetite – Sicilian Cannoli and wine pairings
Cooking Chat – Pairing for Linguine with Cod and Asparagus
Rockin Red Blog – Celebrating Sicily on #ItalianFWT
Enofylz wine blog – A Taste of Sicily-Tuna and Seabass Spiedini #ItalianFWT
FoodWineClick – From Etna Bianco to Marsala, A Sicilian Wine Tour
Girls Gotta Drink – Etna Wine: volcanic wines that don’t taste like ash

We are live on twitter today and throughout the weekend at #ItalianFWT. Join us and share your food, wine and travel experiences in Sicily. We’d love to hear from you!

Astronaut Reid Wiseman and Sicily
As luck would have it, I heard a story on NPR last week that made me smile about Sicily. Astronaut Reid Wiseman, tells a fun story about Sicily at night. You can watch it here complete with photos, and the photo below provides a brief introduction.

Italy at night as seen by Astronaut Reid Wiseman. Notice the black hole with red center; that's Mt. Etna with lava core! (photo courtesy of NASA)

Italy at night as seen by Astronaut Reid Wiseman (photo courtesy of NASA). Look for the black hole, that’s Mt. Etna. The red dot in the center? Lava!

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Comments
13 Responses to “From Etna Bianco to Marsala, a Sicilian Wine Tour #ItalianFWT”
  1. Shakira at Grappled says:
    April 4, 2015 at 7:45 am

    Sicily is such an unsung hero. I went to a Sicilian food and wine tasting last month and really enjoyed the combination of flavours. Ended the event with a fabulous almond digestif – wow!

    Reply
  2. Vino Travels (@VinoTravels21) says:
    April 4, 2015 at 10:15 am

    Looks like you’ve been drinking and eating your way through Sicily. Pretty cool photo at the end with the lava.

    Reply
  3. foodwineclick says:
    April 4, 2015 at 11:57 am

    Thanks, Jen. Sicily was way fun! I loved the foods, the flavors and the wines. I was pleasantly surprised with how many fresh, lively wines there are given the hot climate.

    Reply
  4. Martin D. Redmond says:
    April 4, 2015 at 2:50 pm

    Great post Jeff. It’s so great that you spent a month getting to know the wines and the foods of Sicily! Fascinating photos from space and your other photos are gorgeous as always!

    Reply
  5. Marco Scapagnini says:
    April 6, 2015 at 10:19 am

    Hi, I loved your article! I organize customized food&wine experience in Sicily, worked as food, wine and travel journalist in Italy for ten years. I also do wine tasting and dinners in US for Sicilian wineries, would love to be in touch with you!
    Thanks!!
    Marco Scapagnini

    Reply
  6. Michelle Williams says:
    April 7, 2015 at 11:07 am

    Great post Jeff. Looks like we both hit on some of the same delicious Sicilian food offerings. Your wine selection looks quite good. I love that you are able to take such a deep dive into each region. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  7. Nancy | PullThatCork says:
    April 10, 2015 at 10:13 am

    Lovely tour of Sicily!

    Reply
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