How does Italy, a country just three-quarters the size of California, annually produce one-fifth of all the wine in the world? By planting grapevines everywhere. (Look, there they are in the median on the A1 autostrada from Milan to Florence!)
Grapevines also grow “out to sea,” as it were, on Italy’s many islands, large and small. And precisely because they are islands, much of the wine that they produce is noteworthy. Island soil composition is especially beneficial to grapevines; vineyards also benefit from being surrounded by water.
Two of these islands — Sicily and Sardinia — are mammoth. Others, such as Pantelleria and Ischia, are much smaller and, as if they were small businesses, specialize their winemaking.
Sicily
The largest island in the Mediterranean, Sicily has vied for years with Puglia and Veneto, two mainland regions of Italy, for the country’s largest output of wine. (If Sicily were its own country, it would be the seventh-largest wine-producing country on the globe.)
Volcanoes long ago produced much of the soil that constitutes the vineyards of Sicily. No surprise there; islands everywhere are often mere volcanic outcroppings from their surrounding seabeds.
Volcanic soil is especially prized for raising grapevines. It makes for full-bodied wines, rich in minerality and high in that refreshing, “framing” acidity that brings character to the sensation of any wine. Volcanic soil is especially abundant in eastern Sicily. Some of Sicily’s better vineyards ascend the slopes of Mount Etna, a still-active volcano.
Many of Sicily’s indigenous wine grapes can trace their beginning back hundreds of years and still grow on the island. Among them are the whites grillo, carricante, insolia and catarratto, and the reds nero d’Avola and nerello mascalese.
2012 Cusumano Insolia, Sicily: Delicious best buy in fragrant, clean white with long-lasting flavors. $10
2012 Tasca d’Almerita Tascante Carricante “Buonora,”, Sicily: Low-yield, citrusy, anise-accented white with snap of acidity at finish. $20
2012 Donnafugata White “Anthilia,”, Sicily: Mostly catarratto; sage and vanilla hints over a robust palate on this white. $16
2012 Tenuta di Fessina Etna Rosso “Erse,”, Sicily: Light-bodied but tannic red, mostly nerello grape, much like a Piedmontese nebbiolo; a red for heavy fish such as tuna. $22
NV Florio Marsala Dry “Ambra Secco,”, Sicily: Can’t talk “Sicily” without talking “Marsala”; delicious dry version of this dark sherrylike fortified wine; enjoy with dried fruits, nuts and your reading table meanderings. $15
Sardinia
Much of the success of modern-day Sardinian winemaking is based in a legacy that stretches back to ancient Rome. The island was the main supplier of wine for the Empire’s capital. Up until the 1900s, winemakers from places as diverse as Tuscany and Burgundy used its bold reds to bolster their then-lighter red wines.
Perhaps its most significant winemaking influence was the occupation of Sardinia from 1297 to 1720 by the Spanish, who brought to the island its current mainstay red grapes garnacha (known in Sardinia as cannonau) and carignan (carignano).
And it appears, from contemporary DNA research, that Sardinia gave the Mediterranean basin the white grape vermentino, so successful in Liguria (Italy) and southern France, where it is known as rolle.
2011 Tenute Dettori Bianco Romangia Badde Nigolosu, Sardinia: All-vermentino; like cantaloupe aqua fresca, gently spicy, deeply delicious white. $28
2011 Argiolas Cannonau di Sardegna “Costera,”, Sardinia: Buoyant aromas of red fruits, juicy and smooth; a terrific buy in “Wednesday night red.” $15
2010 Tenute Dettori Romangia Rosso “Chimbanta,”, Sardinia: A most interesting wine, with layers upon layers of flavors and aromas of fruits and spices (have it with exotic meat dishes such as a Moroccan-spiced lamb tagine studded with golden raisins); a three-year maceration and fermentation develop all those unfolding nuances, while careful winemaking keeps it clean and unsullied — in fact, improved — by that much time. $30
Ischia
Out in the Bay of Naples, along with famed Capri, sits Ischia, a small island with vineyards comprised of green-hued volcanic soil. Around 700 B.C., records show, ancient Romans called Ischia “Enaria,” meaning “land of vines.”
High-altitude vineyards, moderating sea breezes and its green volcanic soil are Ischia’s keys to making fine wine.
2008 La Pietra Tommasone Rosso Epomeo, Ischia Campania: Sports rustically abundant amounts of fruit, tannin and depth from its mix of aglianico, montepulciano d’Abruzzo and piedirosso grapes (“very south-central Italy”), so match it with grilled or sauteed meats such as steak au poivre. $35
Pantelleria
This wee island, off the western coast of Sicily but closer to Tunisia and mainland Africa, specializes in a wine that owes its heritage to Arabian influences that date back centuries.
Here grows a member of the muscat grape family called zibibbo in both Sicily and on Pantelleria, after the Arabian word for “raisin,” “zabib.”
Vines that in most cases are well more than 100 years old produce fat, sweet and highly aromatic grapes that go into producing one of Italy’s most alluringly delicious sweet wines.
2011 Donnafugata Passito “Ben Rye,”, Pantelleria: Wonderful example of the greatness of sweet wine to cap a meal or day; enormous aromas of orange, honey, dried fruits; a teeny sip lasts forever on the tongue. $44 for 375-milliliter bottle.
If your wine store does not carry these wines, ask for one similar in style and price.
Bill St John has been writing and teaching about wine for more than 40 years.
