My summer of wine: Sicily, Ontario, Adelaide and the Barossa
A week in southeastern Sicily with growers certified under SOStain, a symposium in Toronto, and a conference in Adelaide — with the 2014 Grange at the end of it.
Summer 2019 was full of wonderful wine travel and research for me, beginning with Sicily. From Rome we flew to Catania, an ancient port city on Sicily’s east coast that sits at the foot of Mount Etna, an active volcano. Our tour guides from Etna Wine Lab organized a week in southeastern Sicily that began in Noto. The first winery visit was Azienda Terre di Noto, owned by Nino di Marco, where we also met Massimo Padova of Az. Riofavara and Angelo Paternò of Az. Cantina Marilina — all sustainability advocates, and all certified under SOStain, the sustainability program for Sicilian viticulture. We tasted a range of wines: Lapalicca, a flavorful Moscato; Passito di Noto; Acheta, a Grillo of Terre di Noto; and Calauris Black, the 2017 Nero d’Avola.
Next stop was Ortigia Island, the oldest part of the beautiful city of Siracusa — its historical center and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We enjoyed two days exploring temples and palaces of Greek and Baroque origin, and the stunning cathedral in the center of the old town square.
From Siracusa our guides Valeria and Mauro took us to Vittoria to visit Azienda Arianna Occhipinti, where we were hosted by Gian Marco Iannello, sommelier and assistant manager. He explained in great detail the growing techniques and the different contradas — a term I only learned in Sicily, for unique terroir and wine zones, some as small as one might find in Burgundy and as uniquely different one from another. We tasted this uniqueness in a barrel tasting, and learned about Arianna’s vision for vineyard expansion and winegrowing in different contradas. That evening we attended the seventh edition of the Festa del Cerasuolo, with eight chefs and eight wineries, at Chiaramonte Gulfi, a stunningly beautiful property, to celebrate the only DOCG of the island — Cerasuolo di Vittoria — while being entertained by a New Orleans-style brass band. We tasted wines of Arianna Occhipinti, Poggio di Bortolone, COS, Guglielmo Manenti, Nanfro, Avide and Paolo Calì, and had the honor of meeting Arianna and discussing her passion for biodynamic and natural winemaking.
Next stop Etna, and the Firriato Cavanera Etnea resort, where we relaxed for the rest of our stay. Firriato had just been certified carbon neutral, among the world’s first wine cellars to neutralize greenhouse gas emissions. My favorite of all the Firriato wines was Harmonium, a Nero d’Avola blend of fruit from the three best vineyards. Valeria and Mauro, wine and food experts who live in the area, had set up meetings and tastings with Frank Cornelissen and with Salvo Foti — a traditional winemaker who still uses ancestral vinification, an old press and winemaking area called a palmento, a large shallow stone basin where grapes are foot-trodden, then pressed by a large wooden press.
In Etna we enjoyed the unique food of Sicily with its Arabic culinary influences, explored the black lava from past eruptions of Mount Etna, and topped it off with an evening in stunning Taormina and its breathtaking views.
Back home from Italy, almost immediately I was off to Toronto to give a speech at the annual wine symposium of the George Brown School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts. I spoke about the business of sustainable wine, and why this is imperative for producer and retailer. Other featured speakers included a keynote by Steven Spurrier, and Simon Woolf, author of Amber Revolution, on the rising popularity of orange and natural wines. A treat for the speakers was a day trip before the summit to wineries in Niagara-on-the-Lake. I knew little about Ontario wines and was stunned by the beauty of this region and the innovations of the wineries there.
Finally, in July I traveled to Adelaide for the Australian Wine Industry Technical Conference, where I was a workshop speaker on sustainability and a plenary speaker on diversity in the wine industry — the subject of another post on this site. Of course, no wine trip is complete without exploring new restaurants and wineries: dinner in Adelaide at Sean’s Kitchen was superb; a drive to the Barossa Valley to meet the owner and winemaker of Paxton, a biodynamic winery, and to see the d’Arenberg Cube; and a special tour of Penfolds Magill Estate, very close to Adelaide, tasting the spectacular 2014 Grange — which topped off a spectacular summer of wine and travel.