Etna and Alto Adige masterclass in London

Thank you Catherine and Federica

Christine Marsigliano, a Master of Wine from Canada in love with Italy provided us with a surprising match of Italian wines from two extremely different regions: Alto Adige (Südtirol, South Tyrol) and Sicily, specifically the Etna wine making region. The UK Sommelier Association led by Andrea Rinaldi and Federica Zanghirella organized this event that wraps up the season for 2025.

Alto Adige

Most wine From AA are produced by cooperatives, some 70%. In the past, cooperative wine was synonymous with cheap and, at most, sometimes, cheerful. Hardly ever high quality. How times have changed. In AA coops were first introduced in 1893, when the region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and today there are 12 of them to carry the tradition forward.

AA outputs 40m bottles per year, of which some 600k are sparkling wines. This is the result of 2500 years of wine making history, begun even before the Romans expanded and organized production much as they did all over Italy and, indeed, Europe. 96% of wines are doc (Alto Adige denomination) while about 100 sport the "unità geografica aggiuntiva" to indicate specific subregions.

Next to the coops are 32 private estates thrive in their own boutique way and 4800 wine growers provide the raw materials.

AA production makes up less than 1% of Italian wine, so a small amount even if Italy is, on and off, the largest producer of wine in the world. Only 5850 hectares, located between 200 and 1000 meters above sea level specialize in just 20 varieties.

The Habsburg brought foreign varieties like chardonnay and pinot noir, and today 65% of the resulting wine is white while 355 is red. I was surprised to hear that it used to be the other way around when lots of schiava was planted for Austrian and German markets.

Here are my tasting notes:

1. Pinot Grigio Nals Magreid 2024

Floral, zesty, good balance, moderate length. 14% abv! 

Score 90

2. Sauvignon (not specify... blanc) Porphyr & Kalk, Ignaz Niedrist 2023

Intense aromatic nose, fresh, almond. 

Score 88

3. Gewurztraminer Joseph, Hofstadter 2024

Very intense aromas, pineapple, vanilla, ripe fruit gives good smoothness, glycerin very present. Salty spicy. Very long. Can probably age well. 

Score 91

4. Pinot nero riserva St Daniel Cantina Colterenzio 2022

300 members in Coop 

Ripe cherries, smoky almost. Can feel a bit of alcohol 

Score 88

5. StMagdalener classico Vigna Premstellerhof by Hans Rottensteiner 2024

StMag is mostly schiava with some Lagrein check 

Ripe red fruit, good balance. 

Score 89

6. Cabernet Sauvignon riserva Freienfeld, 2018 cantina Kurtatsch

Black fruit, intense nose. Rough tannins despite age. Needs several more years of aging in bottle. 

Score 86

ETNA 

Planted on east north and south, lava tends to flow mostly to the west. Consorzio Etna started in 1994 but there is a long history before that.

It is recorded that in 1848, well before Italy was created as a unitary state, 26,000 hectares were planted in the Etna region and by the 1880s Catania, the local provincial capital, boasted as many as 90,000 hectares of vineyards, more than any other in Sicily.

Fast forward to 1968 and Etna DOC is one of the first controlled origin denominations established in Italy, and the first in Sicily and it now comprises 1350 hectares divided among 474 producers, about half of 1% of all Italian vineyards.

Etna bianco makes up just over 40% of wine production, rosso is just over half and the rest is rosato and sparkling, for a total of some 6 million bottles per year.

Here are my tasting notes:

7. Bianco Lavico Duca di Salaparuta 2024 

Carricante 100%

White flowers, Balanced and moderately long. 

Score 88

8. Bianco Tifeo Gambino 2023

Carricante 70% Catarratto 30%

Similar to n. 7, smooth. 

Score 88

9. Bianco superiore Contrada Rinazzo Benanti 2023 

Carricante 100%

Perfect balance, mineral, moderate complexity and length. 

Score 90.

10. Rosso Andico Zumbo 2020 

Nerello mascalese 100%

Easy, rough corners need to be smoothened out. 

Score 85

11. Rosso 2019 Fischetti Muscanento 

Nerello mascalese e cappuccio 

A bit rough, aggressive. 

Score 86

12. Rosso tenute San Michele, Murgo 2020 

Nerello mascalese 100%

Smoother more balanced than previous wines. Moderate length and complexity. 

Score 87

Meet the producer: Baglio Diar, Sicily, Italy

Diar's vineyard makes a strong overall impression because they make organic wines which are remarkably stable and balanced. 

It is well known how difficult it is to produce high quality stable and balanced organic wines, and while the Sicilian climate helps only few manage to achieve Diar's qualitative results.

Each Diar bottle recalls Sicilian culture, an emotional connection between the land and some of the people who made Sicily the trailblazer of Italian culture in recent decades.

Sicilian literature figures prominently on all the labels, and as advertised on their website, for the name of our wines they took inspiration from five female characters who appear in the work of Verga and Pirandello, two giants of the island's literature: Fantasia, Nedda, Selene, Velata and  Dida.

One more original and unique way to underline the fact that wine is part of our culture.

Below are my tasting notes for the samples that were kindly provided to Roving Somm.

They also make extra virgin organic olive oil.

Grillo 2023

Grillo is the archetypal grape from the Marsala region, and it is used for the famous fortified wine. It is born from a cross of Inzolia and Catarratto. This bottle is generous with aromas, fresh and well balanced. A stronger character than your typical Grillo, amplified by a good length.

Score 90

Catarratto 2023

Another signature grape from western Sicily. A gentle mix of floral aromas gives way to a well structured palate with good acidity and balance.

Score 90

Zibibbo 2023

Moscato d'Alessandria from Sicily is known around the world for sweet or almost sweet wines, but not only. Diar has produced a dry but smooth wine with a remarkable structural character that does not prevent the emergence of fruit and floral notes. Excellent balance, a constant of Diar, and good length.

Score 91

Syrah 2023

This bottle is not from an indigenous grape variety but it is well known that Syrah (or Shiraz as it is called in some parts of the world) has established its own tradition in Sicily for some time. I paired this smooth and complex wine with saffron rice.

Score 89

Perricone 2023

Intriguing violet color in the glass for this most Sicilian perricone which exudes delicate red fruit aromas and a gentle acidity that makes for a wine ready to drink now. I would recommend cooling this bottle slightly in order to contain its alcoholic exuberance.

Score 91

Inzolia

A lot of character for this inzolia. Nutty notes do not overpower its lively citrusy overtone that confers a pleasant freshness to the palate. An excellent, versatile wine for Summer dishes in the warm Sicilian climate.

Score 90

Rosé

To complete the range here is a bottle of rosé made with nero d'Avola grapes. This is an easy wine, dry but with a touch of candy flavors that linger in the palate. I can see this for a Summer garden party, served well chilled as aperitif.

Score 80

Wines of Sicily, selection of indigenous grapes

Tonight we met for one more session on the wines of Sicily.

This time it was conducted in English for a smaller group of our members.

Presentation on Sicilian wines

Today's presentation on Sicilian wine is available in English here.

We blind-tasted a selection taken from the large number of wines we sampled last November at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Brussels.

This time we chose to focus on indigenous grapes. Sicily is known for a huge number of these, up to 100 including some historical ones now out of production, and therefore we inevitably had to make some painful choices.

Bottles dressed up for blind tasting

Our plan is to complete this tasting with another one that will cover grapes and producers we did not have time to do justice to today.

For the whites we started with a Gaudensius, a traditional method bubbly made by Firriato with a creative and happy blend of chardonnay and catarratto.

A carricante by Planeta revealed the richness of the volcanic soil on the Etna.

Best pairing with arancino?

Among the reds, for nero d'Avola, the most famous of Sicilian reds, we had a bottle of Hedonis by Feudo Arancio.

This was followed by nero d'Avola in its incarnation as a component, together with frappato, of the only DOCG of Sicily, the Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Sammauro by Nanfro.

Then perricone, an intriguing black grape which is unfortunately less popular today than it used to be and harder to find. We appreciated a Gibellina by Tenute Orestiadi.

crostini and sardines

Literally dulcis in fundo, we tasted the zibibbo passito by Firriato, Ecru, which was considered the most interesting wine of the evening by a consensus of all tasters tonight.

We also had a chance to try some pairing with Sicilian foods like arancini, cannoli and diversi tipi di crostini alle sarde e al pesto siciliano.

We also tried Sicilian extra virgin olive oil, fruity and aromatically assertive as we expected.

On behalf of the Associazione Italiana Sommelier our thanks to the following importers in Belgium: 

Licata
Young Charly
Marcon Vini

And the following producers:

Firriato
Planeta
Villagrande
Feudo Arancio
Cusumano
Nanfro
Palari
Tenute Orestiadi
Tenuta Terre Nere
Morgante 

for their support of our Brussels club.

End of an evening of hard work

Il vino della Sicilia presso l'IIC di Bruxelles

Consegna della guida AIS al direttore Grossi

Oggi si è svolta una serata sul vino della Sicilia, organizzata dal Club AIS di Bruxelles presso l'Istituto Italiano di Cultura della nostra città.

Il Club AIS ringrazia l'istituto ed il direttore Paolo Grossi per la generosa ospitalità.

L'evento si è inserito nella "settimana sulla gastronomia italiana" organizzata da vari anni dal Ministero degli Esteri e della Cooperazione presso le sedi diplomatiche in tutto il mondo.

La manifestazione è cominciata con una presentazione di Marco Carnovale, rappresentante AIS a Bruxelles, sul vino della Sicilia.

L'evento si è svolto in lingua italiana, in linea con la missione dell'istituto, ed ha vista l'affluenza numerosa (tutto esaurito!) della comunità italiana residente in Belgio come pure di molti belgi ed altri espatriati che parlano la nostra lingua.

La presentazione è visibile online.

Calogero stappa per il pubblico

È quindi seguita una degustazione di vini siciliani, con la partecipazione dei seguenti produttori: Firriato, Planeta, Tasca d'Almerita, Regaleali, Villagrande, Feudo Arancio, Cusumano, Nanfro, Palari, Tenute Orestiadi, Tenuta Terre Nere, Morgante.

Il nostro ringraziamento va anche agli importatori di vino siciliano (e di  tutta Italia) in Belgio per la loro entusiasta e generosa partecipazione: Licata, rappresentata da Calogero Licata, siciliano, una colonna dell'importazione di vino italiano di qualità in Belgio da quasi 40 anni. 

Biagio Sorce, anche lui siciliano, ha portato i vini di Young Charly. 

Marian aiuta gli appassionati a degustare

Invece Roberto Marcon, che siciliano non è ma importa anche vini siciliani a Bruxelles, ha rappresentato Marcon Vini. 

Gianfranco Raineri importa vino italiano nel Limburgo ed è stato rappresentato da Marian Cansse.

Svariati produttori hanno anche condiviso un assaggio del loro olio di oliva extravergine a completamento della panoramica sulle eccellenze siciliane.

Biagio spiega il vino siciliano

Roberto e Roberto all'opera

Luca mesce per gli appassionati