10 Fantastic Sicilian Wines

on 21/03/11 at 9:49 am

Wine

Sicily has more vineyards than any other region in Italy; it also grows more grapes. Granted, the vast majority of those vineyards raise grapes for marsala, the sweet and dry fortified wine (originally created by a British trader in the 18th century) that’s produced in the seaside town of the same name. But in recent years, there’s been a lot of excitement around Sicily’s regular red and white wines, as producers of bulk wines have started focusing on the quality of their own bottles. “The rediscovery of Sicilian terroirs is accompanied by a boom of smaller-scale quality wine production,” writes Robert V. Camuto in his excellent new book Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey (University of Nebraska Press, 2010). “In 1990 the number of commercial Sicilian wine producers was little more than three dozen; today the number is approaching three hundred.”