|
|
|
Oranges and vineyards under the Etna Vulcano - Photo (c)
joe_ripa
Sicily Wine:
Sicily (Sicilia in Italian), the largest
Mediterranean island, has more vineyards for wine than any other region.
Production in recent years has reached awesome levels - frequently the greatest
in volume among the regions. The westernmost province of Trapani alone turns out
more wine than the entire regions of Tuscany or Piedmont or such wine nations as
Hungary, Austria or Chile. But the proportion of DOC wine in Sicily's total is a
mere 2.5 per cent and a major share of that is Marsala, which with some 22
million liters a year ranks among Italy's top ten DOCs
in volume.
Marsala, which was devised by English merchant traders nearly two centuries ago,
has remained Sicily's proudest wine despite decades of degradation when it was
flavored with various syrups and sweeteners. Recently it has enjoyed a comeback
with connoisseurs, who favor the dry Marsala Vergine and Superiore Riserva with
their warmly complex flavors that rank them with the finest fortified wines of
Europe.
The only other DOC wine made in significant quantity in Sicily (about 2.5
million liters a year) is the pale white, bone dry Bianco d'Alcamo. Moscato di
Pantelleria, from the remote isle off the coast of Tunisia, is among the richest
and most esteemed of Italian sweet wines in the Naturale and Passito Extra
versions. Malvasia delle Lipari, from the volcanic Aeolian isles, is a dessert
wine as exquisite as it is rare.
|
|
|
|
Sicily Wines:
|
I Love Italian Wine and Food - The Sicily Region
An article by: Levi Reiss
...We’ll start by quoting the marketing materials. “Made with
the local grapes Inzolia, Greciano, and Catarratto, this wine is
matured only in stainless steel and is not put through
acid-softening malolactic fermentation. The producer chooses
this approach to retain the bright fruitiness and racy crispness
of the wine. Enjoy with steamed mussels, chicken or summer
salads.” And now for my thoughts on the wine...
...I first tasted this wine with broiled chicken burgers
accompanied by a hot pepper relish, and red peppers. The wine
was light, perhaps a bit intimidated by the relish. It was
delicate, but not weak. When I finished my glass with the red
peppers, the wine was quite fruity and sweet...
...Isola is a Sicilian fresh cheese made from sheep’s milk. The
Isola cheese was powerful, strong smelling and strong tasting,
especially when you crunched into a peppercorn. Unfortunately,
the cheese overpowered this relatively light wine. In contrast,
when paired with an Asiago cheese from northern Italy, the wine
became quite full bodied and fruity. Sometimes rules such as
local wines with local cheeses are meant to be broken...
read the entire
article...
|
|
Italian Wine
(c) 1997-2008 E. Massetti
TangoItalia - Food Wine Travel in Italy - Home
|
