WINES OF SICILIA

Contrasts are not the least of the things that are abundant in Sicily. So perhaps it is not surprising that this ancient island boasts one of Italy’s most progressive wine industries or that a region noted chiefly in the past for strong and often sweet amber Marsala and Moscato has switched the emphasis toward lighter, fruitier wines, mainly white but also red. Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, has more vineyards than any other Italian region. Yet, with the emphasis shifting from quantity to quality, wine production has diminished recently to slightly less than that of Veneto.
A major share of the DOC is represented by Marsala, a wine originated by English merchant traders two centuries ago. Marsala remains Sicily’s proudest wine despite the not so distant era of degradation when it was used mainly for cooking or flavored with various syrups and sweeteners. Recently it has enjoyed a comeback among connoisseurs, who favor the dry Marsala Vergine and Superiore Riserva with the warmly complex flavors that rank them with the finest fortified wines of Europe.
In Sicily the only other DOC wine made in significant quantity is the pale white, bone dry Bianco d’Alcamo, which is now part of the broader Alcamo appellation. Moscato di Pantelleria, from the remote isle off the coast of Tunisia, is among the richest and most esteemed of Italian sweet wines in the Naturale and Passito Extra versions. Malvasia delle Lipari, from the volcanic Aeolian isles, is a dessert wine as exquisite as it is rare.
The dry white and red wines of Etna, whose vines adorn the lower slopes of the volcano, can show class, as can the pale red but potent Cerasuolo di Vittoria. Production of the other traditional DOCs, the dry, red Faro and the sweet Moscatos of Noto and Siracusa, has been minimal in recent times. But the volume of premium wine is certain to increase with the additions to the DOC list of Contessa Entellina, Eloro, Menfi, Sciacca, Sambuca di Sicilia, Contea di Sclafani and Santa Margherita Belice.
Wines from several admired producers of Sicily have not been qualified as DOC, though most are now covered by the IGT of Sicilia or other appellations. Plans have been advanced to introduce a region-wide Sicilia DOC.
About 75 percent of Sicily’s wine is produced by cooperatives, though a growing number of privately owned estates has put the emphasis on premium quality. Methods of vine training in the sunny, temperate hills have been changed to reduce yields of grapes for wines of real character and individuality. Recently, prominent wine houses from northern and central Italy have invested in vineyards on the island.
Such international varieties as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and the Pinots show real promise in Sicily. But some of the island’s finest wines come from native varieties, notably Nero d’Avola (or Calabrese), Nerello Mascalese and Perricone (or Pignatello) and the reds and Inzolia and Grecanico
among the whites. Sicily has taken the lead in winemaking in the modern south as producers seem increasingly determined to live up to the promise that was already admired millennia ago by the Greeks and Romans.