Tag: vino

  • Wine Is Another Window Into Sicily

    Wine offers another window into Sicily. The soil, landscape, climate, flora, and fauna of a region all contribute to the taste, smell, and wonder of the island’s now renowned wines. To be continued…

  • The Vines Of Sicily In Springtime

    Vinyard in spring, Trapani Province… This is where and when wine-making begins.

  • Saint Martin’s Day: Time To Taste The Novello

    November 11 is La Festa di San Martino, or Saint Martin’s Day. It marks the first tasting of the new wine, known as “novello.” September marked the grape harvest, when the grapes are picked, cleaned, and macerated to make juice (must or “mosto”) that was then left to age. This week, depending on the varietal,…

  • Southern Secrets, Days 5&6: Embracing Sicily

    On days five and six of our combined Feast on History and Experience Sicily tour we dove in to Sicily! We flew from bella Napoli to Sicily to embrace the sea and the sun. Our home base is the village of Scopello, where we had a wine-pairing dinner featuring the varietals of our agriturismo. Cinzia,…

  • Best Wishes To Cantina Quattrocieli

    Cantina Quattrocieli in Alcamo, Sicily, a winery I visited in September (pictured), reported that they tasted their novello (new wine) for San Martino, and they are happy with the results thus far. For the young wine makers, who are still growing their business and perfecting their craft, this is wonderful news! Bravi e auguri!

  • Saint Martin’s Day: The Test Taste

    After an arduous year of meticulously caring for the vines, pruning them, constantly minding the ground at the bases of the plants, and praying for fare weather conditions, in September, wine makers harvested their grapes for the next step of the wine making process. Today’s production is done in laboratory-like cantinas of stainless steel… An…

  • Time To Taste The Wine

    The Feast of Saint Martin is approaching. Saint Martin is the patron saint of vintners, soldiers, the poor, wool-weavers, geese, and the country France. For vintners, November 11 marks the first tasting of the new wine, known as “novello.” Wine making is a long process that starts with the pruning and caring for the vines…

  • Cork In The Bottle

    Now that our Experience Sicily Stirring Sicily East tour is complete, while still in Sicily, I’m seeking out new experiences for when you come! For example, I visited Cantina Quattrocieli in Alcamo and had a great time. Right now, they are in the middle of the grape harvest and extracting the grape juice to make…

  • A Pair of Fantastic Evenings

    After a fantastic evening of Sicilian cuisine last night with the Sicily and Southern Italy Interest Circle (of NY, on Meetup.com) at 83 1/2 Ristorante on New York City’s Upper East Side, this evening, I was downtown on the Lower East Side at Cacio e Vino for a wine tasting dinner with pairing of Donnafugata…