Crispelle For San Martino

November 11 is La Festa di San Martino, Saint Martin’s Day. Each province in Sicily celebrates differently. In the town of Chiaramonte Gulfi (Ragusa Province), citizens eat sweet and savory crispelle, like these made with fennel seeds, pictured, together with cooked wine. Importantly, the Feast of San Martino marks when wine makers taste the novello,…

Drinking Sangue In Palermo

Yes, “Sangue,” meaning blood. It’s a sweet wine typical to Palermo–a cross between Marsala and Zibibbo. The locals drink it at the Taverna Azzurra in La Vucciria market. And here, Eric and I are raising a glass–definitely to a sweeter time. Hang in there, we’ll get through this! I got through drinking Sangue, after all….

The Vendemmia In Sicily

Currently throughout Sicily grape growers are measuring the sugar, acid, and tannin levels of their grapes in preparation for the annual vendemmia, or grape harvest. Up to now, wine-making has been about caring for the vines, pruning the growth, and ensuring that the fruit has received enough air, sunlight, and water for an abundant and…

A Palmento On Etna (Where The Magic Happened)

A palmento is a building and the antique mechanism inside of it where wine grapes were made into juice (mosto) that eventually became wine. This outstanding palmento photographed at Benanti vineyard offers visitors an opportunity to understand the wine-making process from ancient times and how that translates to today’s stainless steal, squeaky-clean laboratories and cantinas….