An island where the vine is a Unesco treasure and a small great cultural event: destination Pantelleria

An island where the vine is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a “little big” cultural event promoted to know it: next destination, Pantelleria, the Black Pearl of the Mediterranean, where a new edition, the n. 3, of the “Pantelleria Doc Festival” (from today to August 22), the appointment promoted by the voluntary Consortium for the protection and enhancement of the DOC wines of the Island of Pantelleria, is an invitation to discover a “treasure” of Italian wine, including visits to the cellars and vineyards cultivated in Zibibbo in fascinating places, from the most agricultural districts to those overlooking the lake or the sea, to archaeological parks, and tastings of DOC wines, white, sparkling, muscat and raisin wines. Wines to be tasted alone or accompanied by typical products of the island in enchanted atmospheres, as in front of a fantastic sunset, listening to the story of those who produced them with love and effort, in the volcanic and steep terrain, hard to work, lashed by the wind.But where a delicious, sweet and aromatic grape grows, whose alberello-trained cultivation has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“The term “heroic viticulture” - explains Benedetto Renda, president of the Consortium and of Cantine Pellegrino, who will open the doors together with Donnafugata (with its wine-symbol Ben Rye, whose grapes were finished harvesting just yesterday), Basile, D'Ancona, Emanuela Bonomo, Ferrandes, Ferreri, Gabriel, Gorgone, Kazzen, Marco De Bartoli, Miceli, Minardi, Murana, Sapori di Pantelleria, Vinisola, Solidea and Zinedi - has a deep meaning. Producing wine at these latitudes is a true heroic enterprise: on average, in fact, in Pantelleria it takes more than three times as much time as is required in other areas. The extreme geographical conditions, the steep slope of the land, the constant blowing wind, the limited availability of manpower, the scarcity of rain and the absence of fresh water sources make the activity of the winemakers a continuous miracle, rewarded by the excellent quality of the wines”. Linked, as never before, to the local traditions of its inhabitants, guardians and holders of a millenary knowledge on the techniques of cultivation of Zibibbo that is handed down from hand to hand, from father to son. No one, in fact, knows better than the farmers of Pantelleria the pruning methods and agronomic practices necessary to get the best from the crops on the wild and inaccessible land of the island, and that allow to maintain its small microcosm.