SICILY

14
Products
of Guaranteed
Origin
With regard to DOP and IGP products,
Etna has a range of excellences, with
the DOC Etna of Vino Bianco, Rosso,
Rosato and Bianco Superiore, the
DOP Monte Etna of extra virgin olive
oil, the DOP of the Indian Fig of Etna,
the IGP of the Etna Cherry, the DOP
of Pecorino Siciliano cheese and with
several “Slow Food” establishments
which draw attention to certain products
worthy of protection and promotion,
such as the Pistacchio of Bronte and
the Pesca [peach] tabacchiera of Etna.
The zone of Etna
contains, within
a few score of
kilometres, naturalistic
and agricultural
landscapes ranging
from sub-tropical to
strictly mountainous.
Vineyards and wine production have existed
in this zone since remote ages and have
been celebrated by history. We may recall
the wine with which Ulysses intoxicated
Polyphemus.
Etna was one of the first controlled
designations of origin (DOC) to be
recognized, in 1968, but wine-growing has
diminished over the last 50 years. By 2007
it had fallen to 442 hectares of certified
DOP Etna surface.
Wine-growing on Etna is divided into small
lots, as mountain activities tend to be.
Almost 60% of the wine producers in the
Province are situated in the mountains,
39% on the hillsides and less than 1% on
the plain. Almost 2/3 of wine producers
have a surface of less than a hectare and
80% do not exceed 2 hectares.
It is a wine-growing landscape unique in the
world, made of terraces, small trees, wine-
presses and farmhouses, fascinating for the
strong contrasts of a land flooded with light
almost every day of the year, washed by
the waters of the Ionian Sea and furrowed
by the incandescent and spectacular lavas
of Etna. A territory with the ambition to
become the 48 th World Heritage Site in Italy
(and the sixth in Sicily).
The zone of Etna contains, within a few
score of kilometres, naturalistic and
agricultural landscapes ranging from subtropical
to strictly mountainous.
The vines are mainly bush-trained and
contained on terraces, given the steepness
of the terrain. A breathtaking landscape!
Harvesting is fairly late. In the latest harvest,
the grapes were gathered between 5 and
14 October.
The autochthonous vines, selected by vinegrowers
over the centuries for the different
environments of Etna, with the exception of
Tasting Sicily n.01/2013