Sicilian wine

For the yearly trip of the infamous wine society 'Het Derde Glas' an ambitious plan was thrown together: a five day visit to Sicily. Using the theme 'planning to max' the whole trip was organised in detail, starting with a flight to Catania on Wednesday morning. A mini van was picked up and we drove quickly to Feudo Principi di Butera for a first wine tasting. This proved to be a massive estate, producing some 900,000 bottles a year, with a professional tasting room and an English-speaking hostess. The business was done efficiently, however, the charge for the tasting took away some of the fun. This turned out to be a regular feature during the trip, something we haven't experienced anywhere else.

From Butera we drove to Valle dell'Acate, which gave a taste of the days to come: slow progress over poor roads, through the middle of towns and villages and very few straight sections. The owner was waiting already, and first showed us a very well preserved old winery. The tasting took place in a beautiful grand hall, and we acted as guinea pigs for the next day: a visit by 64 Brazilian sommeliers.

Next was the town of Ragusa, just 20 km as the crow flies, but one and a half hour in the car! With more luck than good planning we managed to find the hotel, in a small street in Ragusa Superiore. The medieval part of town, Ibla, on the next hill, is housing most of the restaurants, and we settled for the recommended La Rusticana, which turned out to be a huge disappointment. This was not helped by the late evening climb back to Superiore, and Paul's near-death experience on the uppermost step.

 In the cellar of Feudo Principe di Butera

Tasting in the grand hall of Valle dell'Acate

In the morning the journey continued to Ispica, where we turned up at the deserted estate of Curto winery. After some calls our lady contact assured us that she would be there in 2 minutes.... These turned out to be Sicilian minutes: in the end her old father (we assumed) turned up after waiting more than an hour; luckily the weather and surroundings were very pleasant. The main disadvantage was a subsequent late arrival in Syracuse, where we had a cultural stop in the original plan. This was changed to a 'lunch-only' on a terrace overlooking the sea.

The next stop was in Passopisciaro, at a winery with the same name. Here again our appointment was 'lost in translation', but the manager quickly changed gear and took over as host. He took us for a drive around his vineyards, located on the north flank of the Etna up to an altitude of 1,000 m. The wine was good, but very expensive, and purchases were made with the handbrake on.

We descended to Taormina, one of the main tourist resorts on Sicily. This is a small town on a spectacular location on top of a hill, overlooking the sea on one side, and the Etna on the other. The hotel was a small B&B on the hillside, with its own garage (important to keep our wine from view!). It was very pleasant to walk around; we had an achingly expensive beer with the best view in town, and settled for a small dinner to compensate for the overindulgence earlier in the day.

Ragusa Ibla in the morning light

Tasting is serious business at Curto 

 The owner of Passopisciaro is explaining about his grapes

View from Taormina: a smoking Etna at dusk

The next morning we drove back to Passopisciaro, and visited two other wineries, Graci and Cottanera, with one thing in common: our appointment was forgotten. With on-Sicilian efficiency all order was restored, and especially memorable was Cottanera's tasting room with a panoramic view of the snow-covered Etna. After a quick lunch we visited the last house of the trip: Fessina, in the neighbouring village of Solicchiata. Here we were hosted by a French-speaking oenologist and Nathalie, an English-speaking hostess. She just descended from Etna, working as mountain guide, and among many anecdotes recommended us to visit the less touristy northern side.

After the tasting was the most anticipated (and worrying) stop of the trip. We drove to Catania harbour to find the shipping agent who would transport our wine back to The Netherlands. It turned out to be a rather professional operation, with some English speakers, and we left 58 boxes behind with reasonable confidence, hoping to see them again (soon, and full...).

We found our hotel in downtown Catania, a city that turned out to be a mix of a poorly maintained Paris and a somewhat organised Cairo: southern European chaos and charm, grand buildings, with cars parked everywhere and a labyrinth of one-way roads. Dinner was another disappointment in a recommended place, with piss poor pizza's and Pavarotti's nephew singing a few classics on the street. Catania comes alive after 10PM, and the streets were heaving with people, all apparently tasked to disturb our nightly beauty sleep, with loud noise till dawn.

Etna in the early morning

 A common feature during the trip: waiting at Graci winery

Piazza del Duomo, Catania

With the wine tasting behind us we had a full day without pressure to explore Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe. Following Nathalie's advice we drove up to the northern slope, at Piano Provenzano. On arrival it turned out that there were no possibilities to go higher up the mountain due to the large amounts of snow. We descended again and drove around the eastern side to Etna Sur - Rifugio Sapienza. Here we took a cable car to 2,500 m, and we changed into a snow cat, a large snow scooter with a cabin for 25 people. After 2 emergency stops it tuned out that the snow cat was 'caduto', luckily we were almost at the destination. At 3,000 m altitude a mountain guide took us, and some other tourists, for a short walk around some craters; the actual top of the volcano at 3,329 m can only be reached in summer. The weather was great, with a very strong wind, and we had great views towards the south. On the way down we had to take a bus, on a small road dug out of the snow, with spectacular high walls of snow, covered with volcanic dust. With the cable car and our van we descended all the way back to Catania, with a few sundowner beer stops. In the evening we found a very good seafood restaurant, ending the culinary part of the trip on a high note.

Catania

Catania fish market

Jochem on the north slope of Etna: lots of snow

On the south slope of Etna: the snowcat is 'caduto'

Stunning views towards the south, with a few craters in the foreground

After another noisy night we wandered around Catania in the morning, before getting back to the airport to fly home. And to our surprise the wine arrived in Rotterdam just 4 days later!

Another scene from Catania