A Sicilian Odyssey In Hong Kong

The who’s who of the Hong Kong wine trade gathered yesterday at the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Happy Valley Racecourse to celebrate Sicilian wines at a show that saw some of the islands best producers showcasing their wines and olive oils.

The tasting event, held throughout the day and over two floors of the club saw a wide selection of wines alongside seminars hosted by Master of Wine Debra Meiburg which outlined the pairing potential of Chinese foods with Sicilian wines whilst also giving attendees the chance to learn more about wine from Sicily and the island itself.

Ms. Debra Meiburg MW

Ms. Meiburg MW talked about the fascinating region of Sicily and how its wines are unique and different from those on mainland Italy. She also recommended eight popular Chinese dishes that pair nicely with specific Sicilian wines; Eight Treasures Duck, Steamed Fish, Roasted Goose, Black Pepper Steak, Suckling Pig, varied Dim Sum, Braised Abalone, BBQ Pork and Lotus Seed Buns.

The day of events which included guided wine tours, walk through tastings, olive oil cooking demonstrations and culminated in a wine dinner was sponsored by the Istituto Regionale Vini e Olii di Sicilia (IRVOS) and was a great insight into the land that is Italy – what us Brits like to call ‘the football’ to “the Boot” that is Italy.

Production of Sicilian wines in the last 20 years has improved greatly with the wish and need for export meaning that the wines cannot just be made in the style that is consumed by the local population. A number of family estates such as Tasca d’Almerita, Donnafugata and Planeta took up this mantle and are now the benchmark for what people look for in classic, well made, modern Sicilian wine.

IRVOS, over the last two decades has helped the wineries improve with the view to boosting the image of Sicilian wines through the teaching of progressive vineyard management techniques, research, and clonal selection of its main indigenous grapes; Nero d’Avola, Carricante, Nero Mascalese, Catarratto and Inzolia – grapes that now define Sicilian wine making and show the personalised character of the islands wines.

Sicily has 23 DOC areas of production and one DOCG Cerasuolo di Vittoria and farms a total of about 200,000 ha. The main wine style produced is white wine which constitutes approximately 65 per cent of all wine produced on the island – one of my favorite grapes, Inzolia is a major white wine from the region and some of the best can be found when blended with Chardonnay such the Calancia from Duca di Salapuaruta (available in Hong Kong from Valdivia).

Wineries represented at the event included Tasca d’Almerita, Spadafora, Luna Sicana, Gulfi and Polari and, many others there were here to seek representation from local importers. One such wine that was there and being poured by my good friend Paolo Fassina was Azienda Agricola Palari who were showing three amazing wines; Palari Faro DOC 2007, Rosso dal Soprano Sicilia IGT 2009 and the incredible Santa Ne Sicilia IGT which even the Sicilians do not know exactly what grape makes the wine as they are such ancient varietals (if a distributor here in Hong Kong picks these wines up, do let me know!!)

In all, the diversity of the wines was fabulous showing that Sicily really is a magical island producing fine wines from what is one of Europe’s oldest viticultural regions. It has the potential to take the local market here by storm with its approachable styles of wine and diverse use of indigenous and international grape varieties.  The modernization of the Sicilian wine business has made the region “Italy’s New Frontier” with wines showing less oak, lower alcohol levels, fantastic elegance and purity of fruit.