Postcards from the Edge

Like their mythological counterparts Odysseus and Aeneas, intrepid explorers throughout the centuries have voyaged to Sicily.  As with Homer and Virgil, Sicily has loomed large in the imagination of countless storytellers, poets and playwrights throughout the centuries.  In one Arthurian legend, King Arthur was even reputed to have taken refuge on Mount Etna to nurse his wounds and forge his shattered sword Excalibur.  By another calculation, Sicilian settings, characters or other references were employed in more than half of Shakespeare’s plays, including The Winter’s Tale, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Merchant of Venice. 

A British traveler and explorer by the name of Patrick Brydone came to Sicily in the Spring of 1770.  Brydone chronicled his travels in Sicily in a series of letters written to a friend, William Beckford, that were later published in 1809.  For more than two months Brydone traveled the untraveled mule paths of Sicily from Messina to Etna to Syracuse and ultimately to Palermo.  In the letters describing his exploration of Mount Etna, the modern reader is struck by the clarity of Brydone’s careful observations of nature and man.  He describes the strata and facets of Mount Etna with the precision of a geologist and the passion of a classicist.  As he traveled along the seacoast from Taormina south to Mount Etna, Brydone also recognized the fundamental contradiction between Sicily’s celebrated fertility and historic poverty.

In recounting the massive eruption of Mount Etna almost a century before in 1669, Brydone also provides us with a remarkable tale of how one mountainous vineyard belonging to a monastery of Jesuits was carried away on a lava flow (and partially survived!).

“This vineyard was formed on ancient lava, probably a thin one, with a number of caverns and crevices under it.  The liquid lava entering into these caverns, soon filled them up, and by degrees bore up the vineyard; and the Jesuits, who every moment expected to see it buried, beheld with amazement the whole field begin to move off.  It was carried on the surface of the lava to a considerable distance; and though the greatest part was destroyed, yet some of it remains to this day.”

Patrick Brydone, A Tour Through Sicily and Malta (London: Vernor, Hood & Sharpe, 1809), 89.

Santa Tresa

Feudo di Santa Tresa’s 35 hectares (86 acres) of vineyards spread out within the heart of a triangle outlined by the village of Roccazzo and the towns of Acate and Vittoria. Massimo Maggio, also enologist at Vittoria’s Maggio Vini winery, and Stefano Girelli, a wine entrepreneur from Northern Italy, began this project in 2001.  The soil is classic terra rossa, sandy red ferrous soil covering limestone rock.  Comprising a villa built in 1697, a one hundred year-old palmento, and a well dedicated to Saint Teresa (shortened in Sicilian to Santa Tresa), this biologically farmed vineyard produces delicate and elegant red and white wines.  The 2008 Cerasuolo di Vittoria, the most important appellation wine of the Vittoria area, that I tasted recently was pale reddish-brown in color with a delicate nose of red fruits and underbrush. Astringency, bitterness, and sourness danced with delicacy and finesse on the palate. The wine was fully mature, yet remained refreshing, the kind of wine that invites rather than challenges, that stays in the background of a meal rather than dominates it. Enjoy it with a delicate morsel of roast chicken and even meaty fish.

As is the case with most Cerasuolo di Vittoria wines, it is 60% to 70% Nero d’Avola filled out with Frappato, a red grape native to the area.  What makes this wine so delicate and easy-to-drink? Frappato makes a paler, less dense in the mouth, and faster-to-mature wine than Nero d’Avola.  The sandy soil of the area reduces the pigmentation and tannic structure of the mature grape skins. Furthermore, after the fermentation, Massimo Maggio matured the wine in neutral containers rather than new oak barrels where it could pick up wood aromas and more astringency and bitterness. 

If you want to learn more about Feudo di Santa Tresa, visit the winery website, www.santatresa.it.  It is one of my favorites. With Sicilian folksongs and the sunlit countryside in the background, Girelli, speaking in easy-to-understand English, and Maggio, in Sicilian with English subtitles, form a duet. In tones, words and phrases, that evoke the balance and humility of their Cerasuolo di Vittoria, they tell the story of the estate, how the grapes are grown, and how the wine is made.

Massimo Maggio observing roots of Favino plant, used to fix nitrogen in soil

Spreading The Good Word

Since the launch of our book in the Sicilia pavilion at Vinitaly in Verona in early April we have been privileged to present our work at Boston University, Chambers Street Wines and the 92YTribeca in New York City, and last week at The Butcher Shop and Stir in Boston's South End.  What a delight to share our adventures on the Sicilian wine road with with fellow explorers and Sicily appassionati!  To all of our readers, we extend our heartfelt appreciation for your interest and support.  Thank you for helping us to spread the good word.  Mille Grazie.  

Sicilian Bread and Wine

This quintessential food and wine pairing was served at Margherita Platania’s Cavaliere estate on the southwest flank of Mount Etna, about 1,000 meters (mille metri) above sea level.   Margherita and her husband Saro brought us in the morning to a piccolo bakery (literally, a hole-in-the-wall) in Santa Maria di Licodia on our way up to their mountain vineyards.  Round loaves were being pulled from the brick oven as we entered through the unmarked portal.  An older mother and daughter manned the oven like the chief and second engineers in the engine room of a vintage steamship.  By the time we finished our walk-through of the walled vineyards (planted all in alberello), we were eager to sample the old-vine Nerello Mascalese Etna Rosso, Don Blasco, and that heavenly pane.  It was a match made on Etna!  Fresh salami from the Nebrodi Mountains and Ragusano cheese with black pepper complemented the bread and wine.  Both the Don Blasco and the Etna Rosso called Millemetri (which is made from younger vines) show the potential of this high-elevation property.  The Cavaliere estate was prized as a vineyard site in the late 19^th century – as chronicled in Federico De Roberto's The Viceroys, an incisive novel about Catania's aristocratic families of that period.  Margherita and Saro are restoring this storied land with both heart and head.

Market Gardens

During the period of Muslim and Norman rule, the market gardens of Palermo, Catania, and Messina abounded with the fruits and fish of the Mediterranean. They still do. The central market of Catania is located just beyond the Piazza Duomo at the southern end of Via Etnea – where the basalt elephant carrying an Egyptian obelisk on its back salutes the Baroque cathedral dedicated to Saint Agatha, the city’s patron saint. The fish market wraps around the outer gate of the city and is bordered by streets that are lined with open-air stalls of fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices, and other earthly delights. The air is filled with the sing-song cries of the vendors hawking their produce and insulting their neighbors.

You will need to brush-up on your Sicilian if you hope to understand this opera. The colors and aromas require no translation, though. Strolling the market gardens of Sicily, you are vividly reminded why Sicily has been celebrated for its fertility since the days of the ancient Greeks. 

Piccolo Poem

Cease your flight Aurora opulent

with fruit, with flower,

sprung from nearby banks,

………………………………………...

   In the enchantment you drew with you

the migrant seasons,

each hour flaunts its boast,

and there are festoons of apricots,

peaches, cherries, twining tendrils,

the orchards’ fragrant pride.     

Lucio Piccolo, “Oratorio for Valverde,” in Collected Poems of Lucio Piccolo, translated by Brian Swann and Ruth Feldman (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972), 83.

Before he ever put pen to paper to write his now classic novel, The Leopard, Giuseppe di Lampedusa idled in the literary shadow of his cousin, Lucio Piccolo.  The poetry of Piccolo is unknown in our own era.  It is now The Leopard that casts a long shadow over Sicily and its poets and storytellers.  During our travels in Sicily, we met many Sicilians who quoted familiar passages from The Leopard.  Lampedusa’s words and images fill the big screen in Luchino Visconti’s sweeping film of the novel.  Packed away like precious crystal in the Prince of Salina’s shuttered country villa, Lucio Piccolo’s poetry is exquisitely delicate and ethereal.  His body of work is small.  Many editions of his poems in Italian are now out of print.  A beautiful collection of these poems translated into English (with the Italian alongside) was published by Princeton University Press in 1972.  Each of Piccolo’s “baroque songs” is a polished gem.  Piccolo’s words evoke both the rich history and timeless quality of Sicily.  In the long line of Sicilian storytellers and poets who have brought acclaim to their island home, including Luigi Pirandello and Salvatore Quasimodo, Lucio Piccolo deserves to be remembered.

Sicilia at Vinitaly

We were in Verona last week from April 7-10 for Vinitaly, Italy’s largest annual wine fair.  We visited the Sicilia pavilion to speak with winegrowers and to sample a few of Sicily’s latest offerings.  In addition to presenting our book at the start of week to an enthusiastic audience of Sicilian wine producers and journalists, we attended a horizontal tasting of sixteen Etna red wines from the 2010 vintage.  The wines showed the elegance and purity of Nerello Mascalese on Mount Etna.  We were delighted to be at this tasting because it included the debut of the Profumo di Vulcano (“Perfume of the Volcano”) wine of Federico Graziani.  In early October 2010 we had the pleasure of sharing the day of harvest (vendemmia) with Federico in his small vineyard on Etna between the comunes of Passopisciaro and Castiglione di Sicilia.  The vineyard workers of Salvo Foti’s I Vigneri, who had tended these vines since 2008, hand-harvested the ripe Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, along with some Alicante and a mix of other local red varieties called Francisi and the historic white varieties Minnella and Caricante.  As a sommelier and wine writer, Federico was moved by the experience of birthing his very own wine.  At the end of the afternoon, Federico placed a precious bunch of Nerello Mascalese in his day bag for the flight back to Milan to share with his family and friends that very night.  Last week Federico presented his wine at the Vinitaly tasting with eloquence and humility.  It is a pure and ripe expression of high elevation Nerello Mascalese from the northeast slopes of Etna.   Auguri, Federico!

  

Tasting the Three Valleys

In a recent tasting, I had the pleasure to revisit – through the medium of flavor – three different Sicilian wine estates: Bonaccorsi, Cusumano, and Planeta.  Bonaccorsi is located on the northern flank of Mount Etna in the town of Randazzo.  Cusumano’s headquarters is near Palermo, but the estate makes wines from grapes sourced from around the island.  Planeta has been a champion of both international and indigenous varieties, and has taken the important step of building separate wineries in its principal vineyard locations throughout Sicily.  The indicated prices are the retail prices in the Boston market.

Alice Bonaccorsi, ValCerasa, Etna Rosso 2007 ($33)

Tasting Val Demone: Etna wines in the Boston area tend to retail for over $40.  So this relatively mature, well-made Etna red (80% Nerello Mascalese, 20% Nerello Cappuccio from alberello trained vines at almost 800 meters above sea level) was a pleasant find.  I had the 2006 about a year earlier.  They are both good years for Etna red, but 2006 is considered the finer vintage.  I, however, liked the 2007 ValCerasa better than the 2006 because the 2007 was more aromatic in the nose and richer in the mouth.  Now I like a little bit of rusticity if it is balanced with a fresh vibrant nose.  Hence I appreciated the violet and cherry smells mixed with leather.  In the mouth piquant and very tart flavors transitioned into an escalating fine astringency.  The finish has a salty finale.  Pair with tenderloin steak and table-talk chasing a lazy afternoon.  

Cusumano “Sàgana” 2008 ($32) 

Tasting Val di Noto: I was eager to taste this wine because the Nero d’Avola grapes from which it is made come from Butera, a town in the southeastern corner of Sicily known as the Val di Noto.  Discover what makes Butera a special place for Nero d’Avola in Chapter 12 of The World of Sicilian Wine.  2008 is a classic vintage.  This is full-blown Nero d’Avola.  The color is as dark blue as high altitude Argentine Malbec.  The strong nose of chocolate, over-ripe blackberries, cinders, and Vintage Port indicates a harvest beyond perfect ripeness.  Threshold sweetness moves into a viscous and sour jam-juiciness.  Bitterness overwhelms astringency in the finish.  (I appreciate this kind of bitterness!)  Have this wine wrestle some aged Ragusano cheese.  Let us know who wins.

Planeta “Cometa” 2010 ($48)

Tasting Val di Mazara: The Planeta and Settesoli companies have been the pioneers of developing the Fiano variety from Campania. They planted it in vineyards in the vicinity of their headquarters in the township of Menfi in the Terre Sicane area. The Cometa, 100% Fiano, has a lemon, creamed corn, and apricot nose and a viscous, piquant, and slightly bitter mouth which is reminiscent of a cross between a barrel-fermented, lees-stirred Chardonnay and a late harvest Viognier.  In other words, the wine is delicious.  The exotic character and high body suggest accompaniment with aged cheese, a low-sugar fruit tart, or perhaps a pâté of some sort.  White chocolate with an accompanying slice of dried apricot also merits a try.   

Sonnet to Sicily

Sonettu a Sicilia

by Frances Di Savino

This isle, age-old and new, so close and far,

its rocks, its soil, its vines, bear fruit and wine;

its light, its heat, its winds, swell sea and star,

to see and smell, to hear and feel them shine;

This we came to touch, to taste - then to show -

the roots, the flavors, and fragrant places,

the coasts, the hills, where native grapevines grow;

to roam orange groves and ancient spaces.

Thus we scribe your story of then and now,

of pilgrims questing for the golden thread,

of farmers tilling earth and pushing plow,

to plant and harvest, of both heart and head.

Marsala, Menfi, Messina, Milo -

Read your long-lost tale of love and vino.

I wrote this sonnet as a gift to our editorial team at the University of California Press in honor of the publication of our book. My inspiration was the first sonnet ever written - a literary invention of Giacomo da Lentini, a notary and poet in the Sicilian court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the 13th century.

Pithy Wine

COS vinifies and matures Pithos Bianco (Pithos white), made from Grecanico, in 400 liter clay amphoras dug into the ground. Contrary to standard practice for modern white wine production, fermentation occurs in contact with the skins. The wine is bottled in the spring after the harvest. In order to improve stability, it is lightly sulfited before bottling. COS also produces a Pithos red, a Nero d’Avola-Frappato blend.

I recently sampled a 2010 COS Pithos Bianco ($38 retail in the Boston market). It was copper-yellow tinted. I smelled untoasted nuts, pear, and musk. Although there were smells recalling old apple juice, which I associate with oxidation, these smells did not increase with aeration as would normally be the case in a wine in rapid deterioration.  Though dry and moderately low in alcohol, the wine was slightly more viscous perhaps indicating a high level of glycerol. It was savory, pleasantly bitter and slightly astringent.  I look forward someday to enjoying it with a simply roasted whole chicken. Appreciation of this wine demands a mind open to exploring unconventional flavors.