The transformation of the world of wine in the last 20 years has been simply astounding. Consumers have been blessed with a profusion of wonderful wines from sources that few would have predicted as recently as the turn of the century. Case in point: Sicily.
Sicily has always been a prodigious fount of wine. That was part of the problem. What poured forth in such quantity was cheap, bad and easy to dismiss: heavy reds, dull whites and sweet wines that traded on famous names (Marsala, Moscato di Pantelleria and Malvasia Delle Lipari) but rarely delivered.
Now Sicily is one of the most exciting wine regions in the world. That goes particularly for the reds, which are not heavy at all but fresh and lively. Whites, too, are emerging, especially those made from the savory carricante grape on Mount Etna.
What accounts for this explosion? Partly, it’s a result of a new, energetic generation of wine producers who embraced the island’s indigenous grapes at a time when many regions were looking past their heritages to capitalize on the world’s taste for international grapes like chardonnay, merlot and cabernet sauvignon. As a result, Sicily’s new-wave wines immediately stood out as distinctive cultural emblems.
Perhaps equally important has been a slight shift in taste in the United States, the proverbial pendulum swing, from heavy wines of power to lighter wines of greater finesse. In many ways this played to the strength of these Sicilian producers, who specialized in agile reds with invigorating acidity, particularly those producers around Mount Etna on the eastern part of the island and those around the town of Vittoria to the southeast.
Etna Rossos, the red wines of Mount Etna, have gotten the most attention. They are based on the nerello mascalese grape, with an occasional assist from its sibling, nerello cappuccio. Similar in spirit, however, are the wines from the Vittoria region, generally made of a blend of the frappato and nero d’Avola grapes, though sometimes of frappato or, less often, nero d’Avola alone.
To get a better sense of what was happening in this part of Sicily, the wine panel recently tasted a selection of blends and wines that showcase the frappato grape. Ordinarily, our tasting coordinator, Bernie Kirsch, puts together a group of 20 bottles that we hope provides a good cross-section of a region or genre. But so few producers from the Vittoria region are imported into the United States that for this tasting we had only 16 bottles, and that number included multiple entries from several estates. Florence Fabricant and I were joined at the tasting by Francesco Grosso, wine director at Marea on Central Park South, and Patrick Cappiello, wine director and a partner at Pearl & Ash on the Lower East Side.
Despite the small number of producers, we found it a terrific selection, showing off the verve, grace and energy of these wines. The best seemed almost to vibrate with a tension between bitter and sweet fruit flavors, a typical Italian construct. Many also had savory components, whether spicy, smoky or mineral, combined with graceful, lively textures. Occasionally, the balance would fail, which would emphasize a sweet, almost candied element, or in one case, the flavors of oak. But these failures were rare.
Our top three wines were all blends, combining the earthy strength of the nero d’Avola with the bracing floral freshness of the frappato. Our No. 1 wine, the 2009 Sicilia Rosso from Lamoresca, was spicy, earthy and structured, pleasantly funky yet alive in the glass. No. 2 was the 2012 SP68 from Arianna Occhipinti, fresh, bright and surprisingly complex for a wine intended to be drunk young. No. 3, the 2011 Pithos Rosso from COS, was fermented and aged in terra-cotta amphorae rather than in stainless steel or oak barrels. The wine was beautifully fragrant with a distinct sense of umami.
The next three wines were all frappatos, with no more than a small percentage of other local grapes added, if any at all. Each was delicious though simpler than the blended wines. No. 4 was the 2012 Vittoria Frappato from Valle Dell’Acate, floral, harmonious and, at $19, our best value. Next was the 2011 Nerocapitano from Lamoresca, lively, graceful and balanced, followed by the deliciously energetic 2011 frappato from Arianna Occhipinti.
I would call these four producers the stars of the region, and would go out of my way to drink any wines they make. But the remaining wines, all Cerasuolos di Vittoria from Feudo di Santa Tresa, Manenti, Gulfi and Planeta, are worth seeking out as well.
You may have noticed that the wines at the top of the list all bear the initials I.G.T., or Indicazione Geogrifica Tipica, a designation that theoretically, at least, is of lower status than Cerasuolo di Vittoria, as the wines at the end of the list are called. Ordinarily, I would hate to plunge into this alphabet soup of wine nomenclature, but it’s an indication that official designations may not be so meaningful in Sicily, or elsewhere in Italy, for that matter.
