Sicilia Sicily

Sicilian climatic conditions, warm temperatures, hilly lands, light sea breeze and the sun lit, make Sicily the island of wine.

In fact, Sicily and its wines shows the age-old vocation of vines and wine production, which has its roots in Greek, where it gave rise to this combination, Sicily and Wines, now known around the world.

A Brief History of the Sicilian Wine

Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean and, of course, is the most important one because of its art, history and economic activities. In this land from the ancient vocation for cultivating vines, the Greek settlers, arrived in Naxos, the first devoted themselves "professionally" culture of grapevine, beginning the production of the Sicilian wines that now are so famous. The Phoenicians, for their part, daring navigators and merchants of race they were, of Sicilian wines made one of the most important trade of that era. The Marsala and Moscato, produced in the historic Sicilian wineries, are still witnessing. In Sicily, in fact, the grape is still one of the most important resources, quality and quantity, to make the island famous throughout the world.

The Sicilian Wines

Today, the Sicilian wine creates a turnover of hundreds of millions of euros. Sicilian wines are the pride of the eruption in the agro-food Sicilian, and the island with Puglia contends the record for most production among all regions of the South

Some data confirming the vocation of the island to the production of wines:

Sicily is the Italian region with the highest wine heritage of the whole nation, followed by Puglia and Veneto; cultivated lands in Sicily to produce the best Sicilian wines are concentrated in the hills 70%, 24% in the plains and the remaining 6% in the mountains; among the provinces that give life to the best Sicilian wines Trapani is the most vital, followed by the Agrigento and Palermo;

Sicily can rely, for the production of its wines, on a heritage of almost 170 000 hectares of vineyards, 80% of which is planted with white grapes, while the remaining 20% is reserved for red grape vines.

The cultivation of white grapes is concentrated mainly in western Sicily, in the areas of Trapani, Agrigento and Palermo, the cultivation of the red berry takes place especially in eastern Sicily.

Sicilian wine is the result of a guaranteed quality production: several Sicilian wines can boast of the Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin (DOCG) Denomination of Controlled Origin (DOC) and IGT (IGT). But Sicily is famous, too, for the production of sweet wines. They range from Marsala, known throughout the world, the Malvasia delle Lipari, from Moscato di Noto and Syracuse Passito of Pantelleria until Zibibbo. Among the Sicilian table wines, as well as the famous Nero d'Avola, are produced Bianco d'Alcamo  in the provinces of Palermo and Trapani, the Eloro white and red, the Countess Entellina, the Nivolelli Delia, Etna, the Lighthouse, Memphis, Monreale, Ries, Santa Margherita di Belice and Sciacca, until you arrive at Sambuca di Sicilia.

For what concerns the wines produced with grapes native Sicilian there are Carricante, Cataratto, Grecanico, Grillo, Inzolia, also known by the names of unusual or Ansonica, Malvasia delle Lipari, the Moscato Bianco, Zibibbo and Muscat of Alexandria. Among the Sicilian wines produced with red grapes stand Frappato, Nerello Cappuccio or Mantelleto, Nerello Mascalese, Nero d'Avola or Calabrese and Perricone, or Pignatello. In addition to native, there are international grapes such as Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Muller Thurgau, Pinot Noir and Syrah.