Ode to Sicilian Wines
This will be a delight
Restoration of mortals
Remedy for sadness
Balsam for ills
It will bring balance,
In spite of destiny,
Among the rich and the poor
Among the greats and the commoners…
– Giovanni Meli, poet

Sicily is one of the oldest and has been one of the most fought over regions in the world. From the Greeks and the Phoenicians through the Normans and eventually unified under the House of Bourbon, it became part of Italy in 1860 and in 1946 was granted autonomy within Italy. The island is a good example of man-made deforestation, which has occurred when the Romans turned the island into an agricultural region. Over a period of centuries this has dried the climate, decreased the annual rainfall and dried rivers. However, in the northeast the landscape is dominated by Mount Etna, named from the Greek AITNA, the mother of Zeus. Here annual rainfalls can be 5-6 times the average for the rest of the island. It is the highest volcanic mountain in all of Europe and one of the most active in the world. Etna’s volcanic soil deposits are created by hundreds of lava flows following upon each other over the course of the volcanoes age. Such complex “rivers” of mineral rich soils can surface in veins of completely different makeup only a few hundred feet apart. Wine making here can be difficult, maintaining vines at an altitude up to 3,500 feet or higher. At this height temperature fluctuations between day and night can swing up to 80ºF. Etna’s high slopes are the only place on the island where the ripening of grapes would ever be cause for concern. Yet winemakers here are persistent, ever pushing up the slopes toward blacker ash deposits and higher elevation. One way winemakers confront the problem of under ripeness is to plant on the eastern side of the mountain where the sun shinning off the Mediterranean can provide much needed warmth to the vines. The reds of this region can be both light and bold at once, a characteristic shared by the regions extreme nature and climate.

While Etna is the most revered wine region of Sicily there are others as well that are making a new statement on how wines of the region can/should be made. In the southeastern town of Vittoria, once a blip on the wine radar for their boring attempts at international grapes like Merlot and Chardonnay, new names have popped up over the past two decades in natural and biodynamic winemaking. Out are those international grapes and chemical farming and in are terroir specific indigenous grapes with organic and biodynamic farming. Not chemically boosting the fertility of the vines here means accepting relatively lower yields. Lucky for us, this also permits us to taste wines of lower alcohol, elegance, and minerality.

For the month of November these wines are all on sale! Give something new a try!