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
