SICILIAN WINE CELEBRATED IN SYRACUSE AND NOTO. THE THEME FOR THE 2009 EDITION OF “SICILIA EN PRIMEUR” WAS “SICILY AS A WINE CONTINENT”

In the two Sicilian cities of Syracuse and Noto (both recognized as “World Heritages” by UNESCO), the annual festival “Sicilia en primeur” was held in honor of Sicilian wine. The theme of the 2009 edition was “Sicily as a wine continent”.

In this island region of Italy, there are magnificent beaches as well as vineyard covered mountains that rise over 800 meters. And this “continent” could even be divided into seven “countries”: Mt. Etna, Trapani, Palermo, Agrigento and Caltanissetta, Syracuse and Noto, Ragusa and Vittoria, and the minor islands that surround Sicily. And these are, in fact, the divisions that were respected at the “Sicilia en primeur” expo in an attempt to allow the wine sector’s operators and the media a chance to get a taste of each of these regions, each one being characterized by a distinctive taste and specific winemaking traditions.

One of the top events of “Sicilia en primeur” was the tasting of the 2008 Sicilian vintage, with the participation of Professor Attilio Scienza from the University of Milan and enologist Riccardo Cotarella.

The international event was organized by the association Assovini Sicilia, currently presided over by Diego Planeta, one of the protagonists of the successful re-launching of Sicilian wines, and sponsored by the regional councillors for agriculture and tourism, the Regional Institute of Vine and Wine (headed by Leonardo Agueci), Veronafiere, ICE, and the municipalities of Syracuse and Noto. Italy’s Environmental Ministry also gave its patronage.



Focus – Wine Production in Sicily

With a total of 119,893 hectares of vineyards (plus about 21,000 potential hectares), making up about 17% of the national total, Sicily is the Italian region with the highest productive patrimony. The winemaking sector represents a strategic agricultural resource for the region of Sicily, contributing to gross agriculture sales with a quota that surpasses 15%. The total land cultivated with white grapes is 76,906 hectares (64.1%), while red grapes make up 42,839 hectares (35.7%).

The largest vineyard area is located in the province of Trapani with 68,780 hectares making up 57.4% of the entire grape cultivation area of Sicily. This is followed by Agrigento with 10,972 hectares which corresponds to 17.5%, then Palermo at 13.9% with 16,625 hectares, Caltanissetta at 4.8% with 5,763 hectares, Catania at 2.6% with 3,074 hectares, Messina at 0.7% with 891 hectares, and Enna at 0.3% with 375 hectares.



In total, Sicily produces 1.65 million hectoliters of wine, with over 200 million bottles (+2.6% over the preceding year). There are 650 wineries that bottle their own wine and 55 cooperative organizations; 29 of these produce more than one million bottles making up 73% of all production, while there are less than one hundred wineries that produce more than 100,000 per year (data from the Regional Institute of Vine and Wine and the Observatory on the Sicilian winemaking sector at the University of Palermo).
The main grape varietals used are white Catarratto with 38,079 hectares for a quota of 31.76%, followed by Nero d’Avola at 16.1% with 19,304 hectares, Inzolia at 6.5% with 7,795 hectares, Grecanico and Syrah at 4.47% with 5,358 hectares, and Chardonnay and Merlot at 4% with 5,000 hectares.

Average grape production is 9 million quintals resulting in 6.9 million hectoliters of wine and must. Production for 2008 was 9-10 million quintals of grape resulting in 7 million hectoliters of wine and must.



There are 12 Wine Roads in Sicily: Marsala-Terre d’Occidente, Erice Doc, Alcamo Doc, Doc Monreale, Terre Sicane, Castelli Nisseni, Cerasuolo di Vittoria: from Baroque to Liberty, Etna, Val di Noto, Val di Mazara, Provincia di Messina, on the trail of Targa Florio.

Wine exports for Sicily in 2007 totaled 427,519 hectoliters, of which 276,259 hectoliters were packaged (64.6%) and 140,422 were bulk (32.8%). These exports earned 84,786,000 euros, of which 72,817,000 for the packaged wine (85.9%) and 10,648,000 euros for bulk (12.6%). The majority was sent to Great Britain (about 100,000 hectoliters in 2007, almost all bottled), Germany (over 70,000 hectoliters, half bottled and half bulk), France (a little less than 70,000, almost all bulk), followed by the U.S. (40,000, almost all bottled), Switzerland (less than 40,000, mostly bottled), and lastly Canada, Japan, and Sweden, all with a quota of around 20,000 hectoliters.



The Mission of Assovini Sicilia

Assovini Sicilia, the association that has represented the main enterprises of the Sicilian winemaking sector since 1998, has as its mission the promotion of increased attention towards qualitative growth in a market strongly influenced by increasingly competitive dynamics.

Over ten years have passed since its founding and now the association includes 70 of the top winemakers in Sicily. Today, this association is no longer just a category organization.
Thanks to its innovative talents and pluralist philosophy, its responsibilities have become geared towards the study of solutions to acquiring increasing competitiveness in the wine sector, as well as developing a series of themes regarding new EU, Italian national and regional politics. The base is made up of small, medium, and large winemakers who represent a regional product-share that surpasses 75% in value the total earned for bottled Sicilian wines. Among these companies, almost all of the top names in Sicilian winemaking are included, those who have received highest recognition within the world of wine.