Sicily: Moving Fast While Slowly Rediscovering its Past   

BY IAN D’AGATA | DECEMBER 8, 2016  

For centuries, Sicily was little more than a supplier of neutral, high-alcohol, deeply colored bulk wine that was shipped to colder northern lands to reinforce their anemic reds. So Sicily’s myriad grape varieties and vast terroir diversity had little chance to shine. However, as viticultural and wine-production practices improved over time, it became apparent that Sicily has a lot more than just plonk to offer. Clearly, simply in light of Sicily’s size, important differences in terroirs and the grapes grown in each are to be expected. In fact, Sicily is an extremely large island: at just under 10,000 square miles, it is the world’s 45th largest island (by comparison, Great Britain, at about 80,000 square miles, is the world’s 9th largest, and Tasmania, at 25,000 square miles, ranks 26th).

Vineyards of Nero d'Avola at Tasca d'Almerita

Exciting New Sicilian Terroirs and Denominazioni

The quality of certain unique Sicilian terroirs, such as those of Pantelleria and Etna, has been recognized in recent years by wine lovers all over the world. However, there are many more noteworthy viticultural areas in Sicily, some of which are only now reaching the consciousness of international enophiles.

Cerasuolo di Vittoria is one of the most interesting wine zones not just of Sicily, but of Italy as a whole. Of course, the fact that the area is blessed with a plethora of passionate and talented producers helps—such as Arianna Occhipinti, COS, Gulfi, Paolo Calì and Valle dell’Acate, to name just a few. More important, many of these estates are now making some of their best wines ever. Sicily’s only DOCG wine is in fact Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico, but the DOC Cerasuolo di Vittoria wines are often just as good (they are certainly less oaky), and they cost less. These Nero d’Avola-Frappato blends (generally containing about two-thirds of the former and one-third of the latter) are medium-bodied, perfumed wines that neatly combine the pungent floral character of Frappato and the darker, riper fruit aromas of Nero d’Avola. Don’t miss out on the many outstanding monovariety Frappato wines now available (the Vittoria sub-area is particularly favored for this variety, so look for Vittoria Frappato bottlings). These pretty wines, redolent of violet and strawberry, are some of Italy’s best fresh, light-to-medium-bodied red wines and can be enjoyed slightly chilled.

Faro, at the northeastern tip of Sicily near the city of Messina, is literally crammed with little-known family-run wineries making lovely perfumed, medium-bodied red wines of great purity and fragrance, although the white wines here are less interesting, at least for the time being. The reds from Faro are mainly blends of Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio and Nocera, although small percentages of other local red grapes also find their way into these wines. Strongly mineral and characterized by high but harmonious acidity, well-made Faro wines really sing on the palate and show more than a passing resemblance to the great red wines of Etna. Production volumes are small, however, and since vineyards are distributed over large areas but in small parcels, it is not likely that Faro will ever see an influx of large producers trying to cash in on the DOC’s name, as has happened with Etna.