Vino! Vino! Vino! Gambino

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Gambino winery, high up on the eastern slope of Mt. Etna on the outskirts of a town, Linguaglossa. A group of us went to do some wine tasting with a light lunch included for a modest 12 euro. A short but informative tour of the winery was led by a true gentleman with a good command of English. Wine is to Sicily as water is to Atlanta, only there is much more wine in Sicily...It is a way of life, part of the culture, and a part of every lunch and dinner.

There is enough known and published about Sicilian wines to fill a 128-page book, Wines of Sicily. Again, depending on the region, climate, and soil conditions, many different and distinct wines are produced from many varieties of grapes. Vino rosso, vino bianco, and even white wine made from red grapes! Table wines to fill your own jug, DOC wines, and dessert wines. One can easily purchase a liter of table wine for one euro ($1.40 and way better than two-buck-chuck).

The Gambino winery sits in the middle of 111 hectacres of grapevines ranging from 5-25 years old. (The single plant in the photo is 25 years old). Rows and rows as far as the eyes can see, picked by hand.

The grapes are pressed and the wine stored in French oak barrels for 6-9 months before being transferred to large stainless steel vessels for further aging. The first wine to ferment in a new oak barrel is called the first passing and is aged for 6 months. This is where the wine aficionados say, ah...it has overtones, or is it undertones, or a finish? of...oak. So I guess you can't go wrong saying you detect a slight oak flavor. You will sound so smart. As you can tell, I'm anything but a wine snob, but I'm learning.

We tasted two whites, two reds, and enjoyed antipasti of salami, cheese, marinated mushrooms, artichokes, and two varieties of sun-dried tomatoes. Did you know you can sun-dry cherry tomatoes? They were also kind enough to give us some chestnuts. Thinking they were cooked, I peeled one and took a big bite. The lesson I learned there is no matter how much wine you've tasted, a raw chestnut is awful and makes you want to clean off your tongue with your finger! Yuck, yuck, yuck. Don't do it.

So, when in Siciliy, do as the Sicilians do...drink lots of vino! Why not? I'm old enough!