Last week I attended a wine tasting at
the Tuscan Market
where I had the opportunity to meet Silvio,
whom is the North American Director for the Donnafugata winery of
Sicily. Silvio is also a certified sommelier by the Italian
Sommelier Association (AIS).
Silvio of Donnafugata
Rallo family, Left to Right: Antonio, Giacomo, Gabriella and Jose'
The Donnafugata winery holds 160
years of experience with owner Giacomo Rallo combining his experience with
his wife Gabriella and her experience in the industry. The two combined, along with
their two children Jose' and Antonio, are one of the limited wineries in Sicily that produce estate grown wines. Only
2% of wines produced in Sicily come from estate grown wineries
according to Silvio. The rest are produced by cooperatives.
Terraced hills of Pantelleria
Donnafugata, translating to “woman in
flight”, references Queen Maria Carolina, whom during the time of
Napoleon's arrival in Italy, fled the area and resided in the place
where the winery stands today. There are 3 areas where Donnafugata
grows its grapes including Pantelleria, Marsala and Contessa
Entellina all located in southern Italy in Sicily. Marsala and
Contessa Entellina are located in western Sicily where Pantelleria is
an island off the coast of western Sicily. The Marsala sight is the
main establishment where all the wines are aged and bottled.
Weather of Sicily Sicily's weather consists of considerable differences in day and
night temperatures that allow them to produce aromatic and mature
grapes in their vineyards. The vines, as shown here, in Pantelleria are low, broad bushes so that the grapes don't get fried by the sun and have a canopy of leaves to protect them.
Wines of Donnafugata
One of the eye catching things about
Donnafugata wines are their labels, which were created by
Gabriella. The woman on the label is actually a self-potrait of
Gabriella when she was in her 20's. I tasted a full flight of wines
from their two whites, Athilia & Lighea, to their 3 reds, Sedara,
Tancredi and Mille e Una Notte, finishing with their dessert wine,
Ben Rye. My favorites from the tasting that I want to share with you
are the two whites and the red Tancredi.
I chose both whites because they both
had unique qualities. The Donnafugata Anthilia is made of a grape indigenous to
Sicily called Catarratto that has some Inzolia blended in. Inzolia
is most similar to a chardonnay and is also known as ansonica in
Tuscany. Catarratto is the most planted grape in Sicily and is only
found there. It's best blended with other grapes as it is in
Anthilia. This wine was crisp, juicy and fresh with a little saltiness and
minerality on the lengthy finish. The Donnafugata Lighea is made of 100% Muscat
of Alexandria, also known as moscato bianco or known in Sicily as Zibibbo. This wine had a florally,
beautiful nose and was a dry, crisp style muscat. Very enjoyable!
For the reds I chose the Donnafugata Tancredi.
This wine consisted of mostly nero d'avola and cabernet sauvignon,
but also had 10% tannat, which is typically very austere and tannic. It was
very structured with intensity and the cabernet lended nice body to
the wine. It's aged 14 months in barriques and another 24 months in
the bottle. A great wine to pair with some food.
I can't ever pass up a good dessert
wine as well and Donnafugata makes the delicious Ben Rye made from
the moscato, zibibbo, grapes on the island Pantelleria. This wine is made in the
passito style where the grapes are dried to provide that deep
concentration of fruit making for a very enjoyable, unctuous wine.
Rich sweetness of honey and apricot. Need I say more?
Donnafugata's sustainability
Night harvesting
One of the admirable qualities of
Donnafugata is their focus on sustainability. One of the biggest
actions they take part in is night harvesting. By harvesting their
grapes at night they save 70% of their energy that is normally needed
to cool off the grapes for fermentation. They also use a lot of
solar panels for energy and their latest cellar is built underground
for additional savings. I have always been conscious of conserving
energy and recycling, but it wasn't until my recent trip to Alaska
where I saw the effects due to the glaciers retreating.
I can appreciate their efforts and I hope you can too!
Underground barriques
This winery participated in the recent
event, Cantine
Aperte, which I recently wrote about. You must explore it if you
are in Italy during May. They also have a great part of their
website where you can enter what you are eating to see what wine they
recommend or vice versa where you enter the wine you have purchased
and they suggest recipes to pair along with it. I offered my own
wine
and food pairing from a Wine Pairing weekend event that I'm
involved in monthly where this month's theme was “summer's bounty”.
I paired some light summer appetizers with Donnafugata wines so
don't miss it!
Pairings at Tuscan Market
Pairing at Tuscan Market
If you want to learn more about the unusual grapes of Sicily including the ones mentioned above check out this detailed wine grape varietal table.
Another wine pairing weekend is upon us
and what better way to finish off the summer months by sharing some
of the summer's bounty whether it be from our own personal gardens,
farmers market or just your local supermarket. I can't believe that
we are nearing the end of our summer. Where did the time go? I
personally look forward to this time of year and walking out to my
garden to cut some of the fresh produce out of my own garden.
Although this year I'm fighting the pesky critters that seem to enjoy
sneaking in and digging holes to eat my veggies. Nonetheless, I was
still able to pull some produce together to be able to create some
light, simple appetizers to be enjoyed.
Today I'm sharing with you a wine from
a tasting that I attended this week where I had the opportunity to
meet Silvio di Silvio whom is the National Brand Director for the
Donnafugata winery of Sicily. I'll be sharing a lot more information
about the winery itself and their other wines on my blog next week so stay tuned.
Myself with Silvio di Silvio of Donnafugata winery
I prefer to eat on the lighter side
during the summer like most and wanted to share some appetizers that
I shared with my family from the well known author, Frances Mayes,
and her latest cookbook “The Tuscan Sun Cookbook”. I had the
fortunate opportunity to meet Frances
Mayes earlier this summer and taste her new line of wines and
hear about her latest book. I prepared her bruschetta topped with
melted red peppers in a balsamic glaze.
I prepared the bruschetta brushing it
with extra virgin olive oil and rubbing fresh garlic that I slightly
toasted in the oven. While the bruschetta was toasting I sauteed a
few red bell peppers from the garden in a pan with chopped black
olives in some olive oil along with salt, pepper and balsamic
vinegar. This cooked for about 45 minutes until the peppers seemed
“melted”, which I then topped the bruschetta with. It was a big
hit with the family and a different twist than your classic
bruschetta with tomatoes. Since tomatoes are in abundance in my
garden I also served a caprese salad consisting of fresh tomatoes and
mozzarella topped with basil freshly picked and extra virgin olive
oil.
With the red pepper and balsamic
bruschetta I paired the Sedara red from Donnafugata because it was a
great everyday wine with soft tannins and nice red fruit. The Sedara
is made primarily of Nero
d'Avola, but has small percentages of cabernet sauvignon, merlot
and syrah blended in.
With the caprese dish I paired the Donnafugata
Anthilia. The Anthilia is a white wine made primarily from a grape
you may not be familiar with, Catarratto. Catarratto is a grape that
is planted primarily in Sicily and is the most common grape found
there. There is also some Inzolia blended in, which is most
comparable to a chardonnay. This wine was drier with a nice
crispiness and minerality that I enjoyed with this. There were some
other great wines that I tasted from Donnafugata that I look forward
to sharing with you, but I felt this was the best pairing to what I
prepared.
This week I share with you Samantha Bearman whom is involved in social media and public relations of food and wine and other areas, but also is a freelance photographer, writer and lover of travel. She shared with me her summer experiences living in Santa Barbara. Enjoy!
Santa Barbara evenings in June, July and August are truly the epitome of
summer nights. The weather is warm but the coastal breeze keeps the
temperature between a cool 65-75 degrees. The city plays host to
tourists both from within California and the USA to those hailing from
Europe and South America. In an effort to enhance the community spirit
and showcase all of the delicacies that Santa Barbara has to offer,
First Thursday was born. Within the Santa Barbara Public Market the
sleek, modern, glass hosting room was filled with a variety of people,
couples, singles, young professionals starting their night after a hard
work day, and those already enjoying their summer in Santa Barbara.
Morello wine tasting was the first table to greet patrons
as they were offered up to 5 wines to sample. The sommelier said that
he liked to see people holding some wine because it made them speak
slower and listen better, thus he was quite attentive to the needs of
everyone in the room. He even tailored the wine tasting to several
patrons who preferred only to taste white and he let them top off their
glasses several times with their wine of choice.
The Pasta Shoppe in Santa Barbara
However the big star of
the night was by far The Pasta Shoppe! They had gnocchi in a pesto
sauce that was light and left every plate licked clean, a flat noodle
dipped in a red tomato sauce was gobbled up by those lucky enough to
snag a nibble, and for those with certain food allergies there were
gluten free pasta options. This was a lovely evening for the community
to come and not only explore the inner workings of the Public Market – a
fantastic spot for lunch, dessert, or a meeting - but to get to know
the people behind the Pasta Shoppe and create a
comraderie with the local business. Many of those who visited the First
Thursday event quickly made their way to the Pasta Shoppe store front
and loaded up on some larger portions as well as grabbing some Morello
wine for the weekend ahead. If you missed this first Thursday never
fear, the Pasta Shoppe will show you the same warmth when you visit them inside the public market, their hours are Monday-
Wed: 10:00am- 8:00pm, Thursday – Sat: 10am – 11:00pm and Sunday: 9:00am –
8:00pm. Also don’t think that the Pasta Shoppe is just a hot spot for
lunch and dinner it is also a unique location for breakfast and drinks
too! Follow them on Twitter/Instagram @eatlovepasta Pinterest: The Pasta Shoppe LLC
All photography is compliments of Samantha Mae Photography.
I chose both whites because they both
had unique qualities. The Donnafugata Anthilia is made of a grape indigenous to
Sicily called Catarratto that has some Inzolia blended in. Inzolia
is most similar to a chardonnay and is also known as ansonica in
Tuscany. Catarratto is the most planted grape in Sicily and is only
found there. It's best blended with other grapes as it is in
Anthilia. This wine was crisp, juicy and fresh with a little saltiness and
minerality on the lengthy finish. The Donnafugata Lighea is made of 100% Muscat
of Alexandria, also known as moscato bianco or known in Sicily as Zibibbo. This wine had a florally,
beautiful nose and was a dry, crisp style muscat. Very enjoyable!
