Sometimes it is chance that makes you discover new and exciting wines. An impulse purchase in the wine shop. An unexpected meeting at a wine fair. Someone friend who offers you some new “find”. Or a sign you happen to get a glimpse of from the bus on the way to the airport. Here we get to know Firriato, a big producer in Sicily who recently launched three new wines from Etna, just such a serendipitous acquaintance.
I was sitting in the airport shuttle on the way to the airport in Trapani in western Sicily. That’s when I saw them. The elegant Italian ladies who did not stumble in the slightest on their high heels. Men in black suits walking towards the entrance to a beautifully lit building. I managed to catch a glimpse of the sign at the gate: Firriato.
My family and I had just finished one of our best vacations ever. On the island of Favignana, one of the three Aegadian Islands off the west coast of Sicily. We had cycled to beautiful beaches on the butterfly-shaped island. Swam in perhaps Italy’s most crystal blue waters. Spontaneously invited by an unknown neighbour for a simple but oh so delicious dinner consisting of grilled fish – which I still do not know the name of. We visited the museum where they told us about the island’s once important tuna fishing. At the urging of a fisherman with a long beard, my four-year-old son was told to take off his swimming pillows and jump from a rickety boat straight into the blue water. “The guy can swim,” I was told when I tried far too late to object that my son did not bottom out so far. Since then, my son has swum without aids.
During one of our long bike rides searching for a new cliff or beach, I had glimpsed vineyards with the same sign. Firriato. Children and husband, who had understood what I had in mind, had quickly exclaimed that no, no vineyard visits this time.
About a year ago, I came across the name again. But this time on the black slopes of Mount Etna. “Firriato is building a new facility with a hotel and an ambitious restaurant,” they said. It’s now finished. Twenty rooms and elegantly designed. The restaurant, La Riserva Bistrot, will be run by my acquaintances for years, the Pennisi family, from one-star Shalai, in the village of Linguaglossa. It bodes well.
Firriato has six wineries located in different places on the Mediterranean’s largest island, including Favignana and around Trapani on the western side of Sicily. They have been making wine on Etna since 1994 and has 65 hectares on the volcano. Wine tourism is important, and they offer luxury accommodation and wine and food experiences of the highest class in all three regions. Firriato was founded in 1978 and today makes 40 different organic wines on 470 hectares.
This week I finally got an outlet for my curiosity about Firriato at an online tasting with new vintages of two whites and a rosé wine from Etna.
New vintages of Firriato Cavanera on Mount Etna:
Le Sabbie dell´Etna, Etna Bianco DOC 2020, Firriato
(carricante and cataratto)
Despite the warm vintage 2020 on Etna, the wine shows a fresh floral aroma, citrus with ripe yellow pears and white peach. Lovely acidity, intense with good concentration that is offset by typical elegant freshness from Etna. Long and fresh finish.
Cavanera, Ripa di Scorciavacca, Etna Bianco DOC 2018, Firriato
Intense aromas of genista and orange blossoms, yellow apples and ripe peach with hints of smoke and Mediterranean herbs. An elegant and strict wine with a just-right body in the middle palate. Lovely, intense finish.
Le Sabbie dell´Etna Rosato, Etna DOC, Firriato
A rosé wine made from nerello mascalese. Inviting aromas of raspberries and pomegranate. A fresh and well-made wine with slightly earthy tones in the finish.
