When thinking about Italian wine, it is most common to think of Northern or Central Italy—Tuscany, Piedmont, Veneto, etc. However, there are some interesting, unique wines to seriously consider, if you’ll take your palate to the southern regions of Italy, more specifically, to the most southern areas, the island of Sicily, Basilicata, and Campania.
Have you ever put a glass of wine up to your nose and noticed prominent aromas of flower, and wondered those notes come from? I can, with good conscience, confirm that floral scents in wine DO NOT come from a winemaker dipping an extra-large tea bag of dried flower petals into their tank or barrel of wine. The answer to the question, “Well, from where then?” is chemistry. I know that your eyes are now glazing over, and you are being flooded with memories of high school lab, and the smell of burning sulfur is filling your nostrils and making you cough. Bear with me, okay?
We’ve all heard of someone having a piercing glance, but have you heard about a piercing white wine? In the case of glances, the term piercing often means that a person is looking especially intently at someone or something, to the point where it can make others feel uncomfortable. In the world of wine, piercing references those wines with high acidity. High acidity in a wine may make your salivary glands go into overdrive, jaw joint feel like it’s gripped or locked for a split second, or maybe it makes your lips pucker
Italy is the world’s largest producer of wine, representing about a quarter of the world’s production. According to Italy’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MIPAAF), there are 350 grapes that have been granted an authorized status plus at least an additional 500 documented, but not officially authorized local varieties. One of these documented grapes is the ancient Sicilian grape variety called “Frappato.”
With a perfect Mediterranean climate, Sicily is the home to a wide variety of grapes and styles of wine.
