Sicily

Sicily is Italy's southern most region, and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. For over 2500 years Sicily has payed a large role in Italian viticulture. Once famous for sweet Muscats and later fortified Marsala, in modern times though the island is best trusted for its dry table wine produced under the regional IGT title, Terre Sicilliane. The region has more vineyards than any other region in Italy. Sicilian grapes are often used for making raisins, used locally in cooking. Grapes also play a large part in dessert wines, which require a higher concentration of grapes and are consumed in smaller quantities. Though dessert wine counts for almost 90% of DOC production, several good red and whites are produced throughout the region. Sicily's soils and mountains from which they came play an important role in the region's viticulture. Mt. Etna, the towering stratovolcano is largely responsible for the mineral-rich, dark soils which charcterise the Etna DOC vineyards. It is now common to plant vineyards higher up on volcanic slopes to reep the benefits of cooler air and richer soils. Grape varieties on the island are a combination of 'native' varieties and newer, more trendy imports. Nero d'Avola and Catarrato being the most common native varieties. The large volume of Catarratto juice produced each year results in a lot of it being shipped to cooler Italian wine regions, where it is used to 'bulk up' the body and weight of otherwise thin, over-acidic varieties. A large percentage of what remains on the island is combined with Grillo and Inzolia to producte Marsala. Although less famous than Marsala, another sweet wine produced in the region is Moscato di Pantelleria, the Moscato grape in quetion being Muscat of Alexandria.