“Sicily isn’t an island, it is a continent.” Sicilian wine people claim this often, intending to show that it would be wrong to regard this region of southern Italy as one place. It’s so rich in particularities, with each corner so different from the other, that it’s impossible to generalise about the whole.
The first example of its abundance is the number of autochthonous grapes in Sicily. There are so many that the Sicilians themselves won’t give a number, because a new one is always being discovered or rediscovered. Although Sicily is the largest Italian region in terms of cultivated wine growing surface area, at 98,992ha, it’s only Italy’s fourth-largest wine producing area, after Veneto, Puglia and Emilia-Romagna.
The region boasts the country’s largest surface area of organic vineyards, 38,935ha, and accounts for 37.6% of Italy’s organic production, followed by Puglia and Tuscany.
Sicily is also a reservoir of vine history, where it’s possible to find many vines that have disappeared elsewhere, along with the parents and ancestors of varieties now cultivated around the world. In 2003, a project called ‘Valorisation of Sicilian native vines’ began, aiming to recover, safeguard and enhance Sicily’s ampelographic heritage.
Organisations
One of the public bodies involved in the native vine project is IRVOS (Istituto Regionale del Vino e dell’Olio Siciliano). Founded in 1950, its main goal is to protect, develop and promote Sicily’s production of wine and olive oil. Headquartered in Palermo, its general manager is Dr Vincenzo Cusumano. It also has an experimental winery, G. Dalmasso, in Marsala. IRVOS’s activity is broad and involves all phases of wine production, including promotion of wine; the updating of the regional ampelographic platform, including tests on varieties obtained by cross-breedings; the recovery of varieties that have disappeared; the study of vineyard management models to improve the quality of production; and technical assistance for some wineries. Regional officer, researcher and winemaker Giacomo Ansaldi is well known in Sicily and beyond for his deep knowledge about the Perpetuum, also known as “Marsala before the British”.
Another prominent regional wine association is Assovini, currently led by producer Alessio Planeta. Assovini brings together 90 wineries, the vast majority of which produce wines with a denomination of controlled origin (DOC). Revenue is more than €300m ($335m) a year. Since 2016, Assovini has published the web magazine winesicily.com, edited by Francesco Pensovecchio. It is available in both Italian and English and offers news and information.
Antonio Rallo is president of DOC Sicily, the largest DOC in the region. It’s a new denomination, officially recognised in 2011, and covers 20,745ha. Its 2018 production was more than 80m bottles of wine – a sales increase of 15.5%. It is tipped to exceed 100m bottles in 2019.
Major events
The best way to understand Sicily’s wines is to attend Sicilia en Primeur (SEP), the most important wine event on the island. It’s an annual appointment and in 2019, for its 16th edition, was held in the gorgeous city of Syracuse. SEP is a five-day event aimed mostly at journalists and wine professionals, but it opens its doors to consumers on the final day. More than 50 wineries show their wares, allowing visitors to taste a remarkable number of wines – more than 500 – from across the island. SEP is organised by Assovini.
Another interesting, although smaller event, is Contrade dell’Etna, which focuses exclusively on the wineries of that volcanic region. The creator and organiser is Andrea Franchetti, owner of Passopisciaro winery. He created the event in 2007 to promote Nerello Mascalese wines; the latest edition, held in April in the 18th century Castello Romeo in Randazzo village, drew more than 2,000 attendees. There they tasted both old and new vintages from 72 wineries of Etna DOC, one of the more fashionable Italian denominations of the moment.
Distribution
Sicily enjoys a special richness and variety of wine production thanks to its geographical location in the Mediterranean; however, when it comes to selling wine (especially abroad) its location present difficulties. Remoteness from the main routes for export, generally located in the North of Italy, has forced wineries big and small to manage sales and exports themselves. Big cooperatives and famous wine companies have their export managers and sales team; in the smaller wineries, which are generally family-run, one person – usually the youngest and most educated – is in charge of the commercial side. On the island, distribution is generally carried out by local agencies or salesmen who sell and distribute to the retailers of their zone.
Wine stores
The same could be said about wine shops: each village and town has its own. In Catania, NelsonSicily, founded in 2013 by the Sicilian entrepreneur Giovanni Previti, not only has a good wine shop but is Sicily’s largest wine and food e-commerce site, shipping all over the world. Another famous wine shop is Enoteca Picone, opened in 1946 in Palermo. This is the destination for anyone seeking a specific bottle, as it offers more than 7,000 labels and has a complete Sicilian selection.
Sommeliers
Enoteca Picone’s sommelier, Vera Bonanno, is very popular in the wine community. Another well known sommelier is Luigi Salvo, who as well as being a member of the Associazione Italiana Sommelier (AIS), is a judge in many international wine competitions and the publisher of a web magazine, www.giornalevinocibo.com, available in both Italian and in English. Although sake isn’t particularly popular in the region, sommelier Giuseppe Nobile is a certified master of sake, the only one in southern Italy.
Restaurants
A charismatic identity on the restaurant scene is Luca Caruso. On the tiny island of Salina, he manages Signum, a boutique hotel with a Michelin-starred restaurant; the chef is his sister Martina. The 1,200-label wine list is regarded as one of the best of the region and includes offerings from name wineries with vintages dating back to the ’90s.
Sicily has 13 Michelin restaurants, and three of them – La Madia, with chef Pino Cuttaia; Il Duomo with chef Ciccio Sultano and La Locanda Don Serafino, with chef Vincenzo Candiano – have two stars. The first Michelin star arrived in the region in 2004, thanks to chef Nino Graziano and his restaurant Mulinazzo. Later, Graziano decided to close up and move to Moscow, where he set up a chain of restaurants specialising in Italian-Sicilian cuisine. He is generally esteemed both in Italy and abroad as one of the most effective ambassadors of Sicily’s cuisine. He’s now back in Italy and has a new restaurant, Osteria Siciliana, in downtown Rome.
Communications
When it comes to online communication, Cronache di Gusto, edited by Fabrizio Carrera, is a comprehensive and up-to-date Italian-language web magazine.
Although the PR and communication sector in the region is lively, there are few companies that specialise in food and wine marketing and which offer a complete service. One that does is Gran Via Società e Comunicazione; the press department is managed by journalist Ferdinando Calaciura, with international public relations managed by Andrea Terenghi. If Sicily has become a hit on Monique Soltani’s highly awarded American program “Wine Oh TV” it is thanks to the direction and filming of Mixis, Gran Via’s multimedia spin-off.
One expert who has contributed over many years to spreading the word about Sicily is Bill Nesto MW. His book “The World of Sicilian Wine”, co-authored with Frances Di Savino, is the major authority on the subject.
Significant individual
A renowned winemaker and consultant who is frequently mentioned is Salvo Foti, long considered one of Sicily’s most important agronomists and oenologists. Foti helped to launch high-quality regional wine production – and inspired the world to discover the Etna wine region.
Elisabetta Tosi
