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while it is soft to the palate with a pleasingly<br />
sharp touch. It has a dry, warm, fresh and<br />
balanced flavour and an alcohol level no<br />
lower than 11°.<br />
As a table wine, Alcamo Bianco goes<br />
perfectly with a cuisine based on fish:<br />
spaghetti with sea urchins, risotto alla<br />
marinara, baked or grilled oily and lake<br />
fish, mixed fries of squid and shrimps with<br />
couscous. The typical dishes from the<br />
cuisine of Trapani are its ideal match, but<br />
it also weds with a range from vegetable<br />
soups to omelettes and fresh sheep’s-milk<br />
cheeses. As usual with white wines, it is<br />
best served chilled, at a temperature from<br />
12° to 14°, in a flared wineglass in order<br />
From “minni”<br />
to “melone purceddu”<br />
Alcamo is the city of Sicilian wine, but<br />
alongside its whites, reds and rosés<br />
the city can also boast an interesting<br />
production of extra-virgin olive oil and of<br />
melone purceddu, a variety of melon with<br />
green, wrinkled skin and of oval shape,<br />
the chief feature of which is the ease with<br />
which it can be conserved. Also famous<br />
100% Made in Sicily<br />
Alcamo DOC includes numerous types<br />
of white wines produced from traditional<br />
(such as Catarratto, Inzolia and Grillo)<br />
or international grapes (Chardonnay, Müller<br />
Thurgau o Sauvignon).<br />
to enable maximum concentration of the<br />
aromas. It should be drunk when young,<br />
within a year of the harvest.<br />
The importance of Alcamo in the island’s<br />
vine-growing and wine production can also<br />
be seen from the fact that the mediaeval<br />
castle of the Counts of Modica is the<br />
seat of the Regional Wine-Cellar and<br />
Wine Museum of Western Sicily. It acts<br />
to encourage tourism and to regulate<br />
wine-growing. The museum has a multimedia<br />
itinerary with television screens,<br />
interactive positions, films and virtual<br />
reconstructions. And then back to real life<br />
and an opportunity to sample Alcamo DOC<br />
production in the wine bar.<br />
is its sweet production, including minni di<br />
virgini, breast-shaped pastries filled with<br />
blancmange. And when you sit down to eat<br />
it’s worth trying pasta with sardines, pasta<br />
with tomato sauce garnished with slices<br />
of aubergine and basil, sausage<br />
“cu li cavuliceddi” (Mediterranean cabbage)<br />
and caponata (aubergine salad).<br />
Tasting Sicily n.01/2013 29