By Sam Gugino

SICILY PRODUCES MORE WINE THAN ANY ITALIAN REGION EXCEPT APULIA. If Sicily were a separate country—and some northern Italians think it should be—it would rank sixth in world production.

But most of Sicily’s wine was plonk and either shipped to other countries (or northern Italy) for blending or distilled for industrial use until a dozen years ago. “The biggest change in Sicilian wines has been the paradigm shift from quantity to quality,” says Leonardo LoCascio, president of Winebow, which imports Morgante, Tasca d’Almerita and Terre wines from Sicily.

Today, Sicily has wines that compete on the international stage. A Planeta Chardonnay ranked 19th on Wine Spectator’s list of the world’s top 100 wines in 2002. In 2005, the 2002 Spadina Nero d’Avola Una Rosa also finished in the top 100.

50 Tons Per Acre
A decade or so before those 90-point wines, the Sicilian wine industry was heavily subsidized. Grape farmers were paid by weight, not quality. “Everyone knows that if you want to make great wine, you have to reduce yield considerably,” LoCascio says. “Because Sicily had such favorable growing conditions, it produced huge amounts of grapes; 30, 40, 50 tons per acre instead of the more accepted 2 to 5 tons.”

When subsidies ended, the Sicilian wine industry had no choice but to embrace the free market. Gradually, wines made by cooperatives, which represented 90 percent of production at one time, gave way to individually owned wineries such as Cusumano and Morgante. Established wineries such as Tasca also saw the light and made changes.    

One improvement was bringing in consulting winemakers such as Riccardo Cotarella (Morgante) and Carlo Ferrini (Tasca), who consulted on the 2001 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova, Wine Spectator’s 2006 Wine of the Year. “Sicily never had outside winemakers,” LoCascio says. “It was always very parochial.”

In addition to stressing lower yields, consulting winemakers introduced other concepts, such as finding the proper soil for certain varieties, better site selection, varying plant density, and experimenting with international varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc. “The whole manner in the way vineyards were handled became more scientific instead of the way country gentlemen used to do things,” says Mike Petteruti, senior vice president of Palm Bay Imports, which brings in MandraRossa and Planeta wines.

Also, a new generation of homegrown winemakers was emerging, and unlike their fathers and grandfathers, they looked outward rather than inward. They traveled to see how wine was made in places like Bordeaux and California.

Money also started pouring in from large Italian wine companies on the mainland such as Zonin and Fonterutoli, which were interested in buying vineyard land that was far less expensive than land in Tuscany or Piedmont. “No other region in Europe has as much cheap land that is warm enough for vineyards,” LoCascio says.

North Africa on a Clear Day
Warm is an understatement for an island where you can see North Africa on a clear day. But the heat is mitigated by hilly terrain that allows grapes to chill out in the evening. “At higher altitudes, vines work harder. That gives them richer flavors and the acidity you need for good food wines,” says Bill Terlato, president and CEO of Terlato Wines International, which imports Baglio di Pianetto wines from Sicily.

As with the rest of Italy, Sicily has many native varieties with which consumers may not be familiar such as Catarratto, Grillo, Inzolia, Nero d’Avola, and Perricone. Terlato’s white wine to watch is Inzolia, which Baglio di Pianetto mixes with a small amount of Viognier. “It’s crisp, light and very food friendly,” he says. “The Viognier gives it more complexity.”  

LoCascio likes Grillo, the grape used in Marsala, the famous Sicilian fortified wine. “It has a fairly dark skin, which gives the wine more nuances, like Pinot Gris,” he says. “And it has good potential for aging, like Chardonnay.” Chardonnay, incidentally, is the only white grape that gets oak aging. Others are aged in stainless steel to maintain freshness and fruit character.

Catarratto is Sicily’s workhorse white wine grape, second in production only to the mainland’s Trebbiano, though LoCascio thinks Catarratto has more potential. Though one often sees it used in blends, Catarratto can stand alone when yields are kept low.

Controversial Blending
Blending wines is somewhat controversial. Terlato thinks that many Sicilian native varietals benefit when combined with international varietals; for example, the Baglio di Pianetto Ramione, has 50 percent Merlot added to Nero d’Avola. “Indigen-ous varieties can be wonderful on their own but, generally, they could use some help to add an extra level of complexity,” says Terlato, who likens the blended Sicilian reds to those from Australia, such as Shiraz-Cabernets. Speaking of Shiraz and Cabernet, you now see both names on the labels of Sicilian wines.

Conversely, James Suckling on his Wine Spectator blog laments blending varietals such as Merlot and Syrah with Nero d’Avola. “Why not just leave it alone?” he writes. “I think Nero d’Avola is like Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo. It likes to be in the bottle by itself in its unadulterated beauty.” Suckling says the 2005 vintage could produce some very exciting wines made with Nero d’Avola, which has emerged as Sicily’s flagship wine.

Cerasuolo di Vittoria is not a grape variety but an appellation and Sicily’s first Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita, Italy’s highest wine designation. Cerasuolo di Vittoria wines have up to 60 percent Nero d’Avola with the rest mostly Frappato.

Finally, we come to Sicily’s dessert wines, the most famous of which comes from Pantelleria, a small island southwest of Sicily. Made from the Muscat grape that is ubiquitous throughout the Mediter-ranean region, Moscato di Pantelleria comes in various styles, the most renowned being Passito de Pantelleria, from dried grapes, which produce an exotic, rich wine.

Malvasia is another grape that produces fine dessert wine from the Lipari Islands just off Sicily’s northeastern shore. The most highly regarded Malvasia delle Lipari is made by Hauner, which doesn’t sound Italian, but neither does Shiraz.

Sam Gugino is a columnist for Wine Spectator and can be reached at www.samcooks.com.