Tales from Sicily

​Sicily, home of the mafia, Dolce & Gabbana, arancini, cannoli and, of course, delicious wine to name but a few of its associations. Largely overlooked for mainland Italy, this wonderfully eclectic island of mixed cultures and varying architectural styles from Baroque to Arab-Norman, is truly somewhere to behold, and witnessing it first-hand is to fully appreciate its unique and exotic charm. I recently visited the western half on a wine-tasting expedition, flying in to Palermo where you might be forgiven from thinking that you’ve just arrived in Havana; there’s a hustle and bustle that’s far removed from any of the quintessential Mediterranean islands you might frequent on a sunny holiday destination. Driving out of the sprawling metropolis and hoping that the rental car’s still intact, I head into the barren wilderness of agricultural pasture and rolling hills that wrap around jittering rock formations that seem both imposing and quietly serene at the same time. It’s a beautiful journey to a small 5-hectare vineyard just outside of Trapani. There are hardly any cars, fresh scents of Mediterranean herbs fill the air and the sound of silence is quite deafening at first, it’s so quiet. I arrive at my destination where I’m warmly greeted by a local man who’s been making wine for about 10 years, when he took over from his father who bought the small plot back in the 1960’s. “My father used to make a small batch of wine that he used to drink with family and friends, about 500 bottles at first, through experimentation.” This is how I picture the romance of a story like this: a complete trial and error endeavour that results in varying degrees of discussion from improvement through to success. “As the years went by, my father became more experienced as a vigneron and that’s when he started to increase production for local businesses who were buying in the wine for their trattorias and bars”. I ask whether he feels any pressure taking over from his father but he quite rightly explains that even though he uses many of the techniques his father taught him as a young and keen learner of the practice, having your own individual stamp on a wine as a winemaker is crucial to moving forward and innovating. We taste some samples of the newly released 2017 vintage over a plate of salumi and cheeses. There’s a controlled rusticity to the wines that instantly hits me with a feeling that perhaps the wines haven’t changed that much since the changing of hands a decade ago, but that there’s a more contemporary style and approach to them that comes from what we as wine drinkers today might look for in a wine and that’s a lasting impression. 
DP