Vines pruned with the traditional alberello method and half-buried in the sand on the volcanic island of Pantelleria south of Sicily, is since a little while back on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This traditional pruning system, called gobelet in French and bush vine in English, is used in a very particular way on the Pantelleria island.
“Pantelleria is a stunning island with steep terraced slopes and the blue Mediterranean Sea as a constant background,” says BKWine’s Åsa Johansson, who recently visited the island. “It is only eight by sixteen kilometres and is closer to Tunisia than Sicily. The climate is tough. The wind is persistent and very strong. The vines need to be grown half-buried in the sand to be protected. Besides vines, only olive trees not higher than low bushes and capers manage to survive here.”
The wine produced is the sweet Passito di Pantelleria. The grape is Moscato di Alessandria, here locally called Zibbio. The grapes are dried in the sun for a few weeks before being pressed. Read more: unesco.org.
Read more in Åsa’s article on the wines from Pantelleria here.
