Donnafugata highlights of 2017

One of the places I've traveled to for a weekend many years ago and am dying to go back to in Italy is it's largest island, Sicily. One of the popular wineries of the island that I've written about a couple times now is Donnafugata. I'm pleased to share with you some of their latest releases including their 2016 SurSur Grillo, the 2016 Lighea Zibibbo and the 2015 Sedara blend.

Donnafugata SurSur 2016 – Grillo Sicilia DOC

Grillo is the indigenous white grape of Sicily that typically lends a lot of tropical flavors due to the intense heat and sun of the island allowing the grapes to reach full ripeness. The name of the grape, grillo, translates to cricket, and is also a representation of good luck. In ancient times the Arabs were one of the cultural influences that inhabited Sicily and cricket in Arabic means sur sur, hence the name of the wine.

This wine smells like spring in a glass. Fresh, white flowers and a little grassiness. Immediate peach notes hit the palate with some melon. A pleasurable, easy drinking, refreshing white wine (SRP $23)

Donnafugata Lighea 2016 - Zibibbo Sicilia DOC

Another grape stemming from the arabic word, zabib, meaning dried grapes is zibibbo. It's called zibibbo in Sicily, but it's also known as moscato and part of the muscat family. It is typically best known for producing the wine, passito di pantelleria, hailing from the island of Pantelleria off the western coast of Sicily. In one of my favorite Italian books, Vino Italiano, they describe a good wine of this area “is like biting into the plumpest golden raisin you can imagine”. It can also be produced in a dry style as is found here with Donnafugata's Lighea. The labeling shows off the vibrant colors that radiate off the island of Pantelleria.

Another fragrant, florally wine of pears and tropical luscious fruits also found on the palate. It's a dry, round wine with nice minerality . (SRP $20)

Donnafugata's Pantelleria estate

2015 Donnafugata Sedàra - Red Sicilia DOC

Sicily's most prominent red grape, nero d'avola (also known as calabrese), is what predominately makes up Donnafugata's Sedàra wine. In addition, it is blended with cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah and additional grapes. I love the labeling of Donnafugata and the Sedara shows the cellars of Contessa Entellina and the land in which the grapes are grown. Nero d'avola typically produces dark, inky colored wines comprised on dark berries with good structure and tannin. Many may compare it to syrah.

Filled with loads of red fruits including cherries and strawberries. A fresh, crisp red with some spice and soft tannins. SRP $16

Contessa Entellina estate

*These wines were received as samples, but as always opinions are my own.  Pictures mostly sourced from Donnafugata.

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Passito on the Island of Pantelleria

Today is Italian sweet wine day with our Italian Food, Wine & Travel group. I've written about a number of different sweeter style wines on Vino Travels. I am one that has a sweet tooth and enjoys a nice dessert wine. I'm veering off from the typical moscato d'asti and brachetto d'acqui in the north and taking you an island off the coast of Sicily for some passito di Pantelleria.

I believe I've only ever had 1 passito di pantelleria and it was the delicious Ben Rye from Donnafugata. I've written about passito di pantelleria in the past so you can reference all about it from my previous blog post. To summarize, these wines are produced from the moscato grapes, here it's known as zibibbo. Elsewhere this grape is known as Moscato di Alexandria. The weather is intense here so the grapes ripen rather well. To produce passito the grapes are harvested at night in cooler temperatures, but then left to dry to concencrate the sugars more. 

For all you Trader Joe's wine lovers I have to admit this was the first time I actually tried a wine from Trader Joe's. The store I frequent doesn't sell wine and the other closest store is about 40 minutes away, but one day I was in the area and stopped in to check out their wine selection I've heard a lot about. I was excited to find a passito di Pantelleria from Ipsus and immediately made the purchase. I'm always one for wines that I can't find as easily. This 2014 Ipsus Passito di Pantelleria wine was amber in color. With an aromatic nose this wine is rich in flavors of orange zest, apricots and honey. I would suggest to try pairing it with a fresh fruit tart or even some crème brulee. SRP $10.99 (Trader Joe's). 

A delightful and delicious wine at a great price. So when you find yourself craving a little dessert after your meal it's an affordable option to check out.

Here are more Italian sweet wines for you to enjoy. If you catch us in time join us live on Twitter Saturday June 3^rd at 11am EST @ #ItalianFWT.

• Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla features "From Start to Finish with Brachetto d'Acqui"
• Susannah of Avvinare features "Sweet Wines from Italy Made with Red Grapes"
• Gwendolyn of Art Predator features "Passito Dessert Wine by Anselmi: No Other Dessert Needed"
• Jeff of Foodwineclick features "The Sordid Tale of Marsala Wine"

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Zibibbo sweetens up the island of Pantelleria

This year as I'm working through a little redesign of my site I have so many articles from when I started this blog almost 3 years ago, but I want to focus more this year on some of the even lesser known varietals and regions that I haven't talked to much about. That brings me to my topic today and with Valentine's Day around the corner I thought it was only appropriate to focus on a dessert wine for the holiday, Moscato and Passito di Pantelleria.

Even though I love dry red wines I have a real appreciation for all wines and I definitely have a sweet tooth so when it comes to dessert wines they all call my name. Plus, they're my husbands favorites and I have to keep him happy too. It is Valentine's Day after all.

Love collecting these Annalee dolls

Pantelleria is an island off the coast of Sicily bordering Africa. It suffers from the hot winds blowing over from Africa known as the scirocco winds. These winds as you can imagine can be damaging to the grapes grown here as it can literally bake the grapes. The wineries of the island protect their grapes by wrapping the vines to look like wreaths that cover up and protect the grapes with the leaves. I've also seen this done on the island of Santorini in Greece due to it's intense heat and wind. With these temperatures the residual sugars in the grapes increase and produce very ripe grapes, resulting in the amazing dessert wines known as the Passito di Pantelleria or Moscato di Pantelleria.

An overview of the fields of Pantelleria by Luca Volpi

These wines are made from moscato grapes, which here are also known as zibibbo. What a fun word for a grape! The grapes are actually harvested at night out of the intense day sun to help balance the acidity and sugar. The wines are produced in a multitude of styles as well. You'll find it in a dry style, sweet/dolce style, liquoroso (fortified) and the most popular known as the passito style. What makes this wine special is that the grapes are actually dried out in the sun on volcanic black sun concentrating the sugars further. The Passito di Pantelleria is one of the top dessert wines that you'll find throughout Italy.

Zibibbo grapes drying on the island of Pantelleria by Craig Drollett

Any version that you can find to experience is worth the treat. A popular producer and wine on the US market from Pantelleria is that from the well-known Donnafugata winery known as Ben Rye. This wine retails in about the mid $40's, but is quite delightful. I hope you get to seek one out this Valentine's Day or in the near future. Let me know if you do or have had others as I always love suggestions.

I'd love to hear from my readers as well. Do you enjoy dessert wines in general or do you prefer a dried style of wine?

 
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