Exploring Sicily

I had the wonderful opportunity to spend last week cycling through Sicily - which is quite a feat as Sicily has many, many hills. Sicily is an island on the southern part of Italy and is great place to visit if you get the chance. The people of Sicily are very nice, the food is delicious and they have some tasty wines made from indigenous grapes.

 The wines from Sicily are getting to be more and more popular...likely the most famous grape variety is Nero d' Avola (a red wine), but they have many other varieties that I recommend you keep a look out for...one is Grillo, a crisp white wine - perfect for a hot day. Catarratto is another wonderful white with a touch more elegance and aromatics. Another res to keep an eye out for is Negrello Mascalese - a dark, spicy red with great depth. Obviously there are more grapes grown in Sicily as there are more vineyards there than any other Italian regions.

For those food lovers, I would be remiss to not touch on some of the wonderful food specialties that I sampled while there. Pasta alla norma -- a wonderful pasta dish with tomato, eggplant, cheese, Scabber fish - a long fish that they typically serve rolled up - the fish has a sweet and clean taste, then there is  fresh ricotta (served both sweet and savory), and for those with a sweet tooth - Sicily is into their Dolce, there were so many delicious deserts from a Pistachio and ricotta pie to a cucumber and mint sorbet served along side a warm pastry filled with sweet ricotta and chocolate (heavenly!!!)

Now on to Sardinia to meet with some more potential wine partners and explore what Sardinia has to offer...