Sue and I recently returned from a trip to Sicily. We had a great time and learned a lot about the region and its history, the people and their culture, and, of course, the wines. Here are a couple of things we want to share with you about our experience.
Sicily vs Italy
Sicily is part of Italy (it is Italy’s largest region), but Sicilians aren’t Italians. They are Sicilians. You can ask anyone and you’ll get the same answer. The history and culture are different. Even the language is different. Sicilian isn’t an Italian dialect; it is a different language. And the wines are different, too. There are commonalities, to be sure, but the differences are impossible to ignore.
Some members of our tour group were pretty familiar with Italian grape varieties (Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese) and regions (Chianti, Barolo), but they found that didn’t help them navigate the Sicilian wine scene, which features grape varieties such as Catarratto, Zibibbo, Grillo, Inzolia, Nero d’Avola, Nerello Mascalese, Frapatto, and regional designations such as Etna DOC and Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG.
The differences between Italian and Sicilian wines were initially a barrier, but soon evolved into an invitation to experiment and discover. One important factor is the fact that Sicilian wines, like their Italian cousins, are what we call culinary wines, best enjoyed with food and not on their own (the ubiquitous Aperol spritz is good for that).
(Note: I use the term “Italian wine” here to designate origin, but nothing more. As I wrote in “Around the World in Eighty Wines,” there is no such thing as Italian wines. There are only the regional wines of Italy.)
Resurrecting Marsala
One of our goals for this trip was to get a better understanding of Marsala, which was once Sicily’s signature wine. Marsala is a Sicilian original, but it owed its popularity to English merchants who fortified it for ocean transport stability and then more or less industrialized its production to compete with Sherry, Port, and Madeira on export markets. At one point Sicily found its wine industry almost completely shaped by exports, with strong white wine made in the western part of the island for Marsala production and strong red “cutting wine” made in the east to blend with lighter Italian and maybe even French wines to bring them up to snuff.
Marsala seems to be used in cooking these days more than as a beverage. I have never understood what the fuss was about back in the day. Maybe we’ve only tasted industrial Marsala? This was a chance to find out.
Marco de Bartoli is known for its commitment to authentic Marsala, but our schedule did not permit a winery visit, so we asked Giuseppina de Bartoli for advice. She sent us to the Versi di Rosso wine bar in Trapani, advising that …
We produce only one type of Marsala, Marsala Oro Superiore Riserva , and at the moment there are 3 different vintages ( 2020, 2009 or 1988). I recommend our Vecchio Samperi Perpetuo, that isn’t a Marsala DOC, but the prebritish wine , the historical wine of Marsala area.
Sylvia, our guide and somm-in-training at Versi di Rosso, was very enthusiastic about our tasting request. Vecchio Samperi Perpetuo was more nuanced and complex than the other Marsala wines we tasted and you could see why the British merchants would be attracted to them. It was lighter in weight and body than we expected and very smooth. The “perpetuo” part of the name derives from the old practice of moving and mixing the wine from barrel to barrel over the years, much like a Sherry solera, but of course not like Sherry in other ways. It doesn’t fit the rules of “modern” Marsala, of course, and so doesn’t wear the DOC label. We tasted the Marco de Bartoli Marsala Oro 2009 at Enoteca Solaria in Siracusa and found it a richer variation on the same theme.
OG Marsala is out there and worth seeking out, but you will have to make some effort to find it. We are glad Marco de Bartoli and other producers keep the flame alive.
Sicilian Discoveries
We discovered a wine called Cerasuolo di Abruzzo when we visited that region a few years ago and loved it right away. I guess we assumed that Sicily’s Cerasuolo di Vittoria (from the Vittori region in the south of the island) would be a crisp pink wine like its Abruzzo namesake. Wrong. It is a deep red wine with great acidity made by a blend of Nero d’Avola, Sicily’s most-planted red grape, and Frappato. Completely different, but we fell in love with it after tasting a sample from the COS Winery.
Sweet wines are another thing that Sicilian producers do very well. Donnafugata Ben Ryé is one of Italy’s most celebrated sweet wines — a powerful, aromatic Passito di Pantelleria made from sun‑dried Zibibbo grapes. We enjoyed this wine in both the U.S. and in Italy, but we dove deeper into this category until we got to Sicily.
Our Versi di Rosso guide Sylvia was excited to serve us her favorite Marco de Bartoli wine, Bukkurum Sole d’Agosto, another Passito de Pantelleria. We enjoyed other wonderfully balanced sweet wines at meal’s end, including the Gulino Jaraya Siracusa Passito DOC shown here.
We had hoped to try some Malvasia di Salina and the Malvasia di Salina Passito, but, alas, it just didn’t work out.
We learned a lot on this trip. This column just scratches the surface, but we hope it inspires you to visit (or re-visit) Sicily.