There were a few times during my trip to Sicily that I felt like I had stepped into a different world or that I was living in someone else's life. From the moment we drove up to Barone Di Villagrande, a winery that had been in Sicily since the 1800's, everything felt surreal. This winery is nestled in the foothills of Mt. Etna, an active and majestic volcano.


And it is this volcanic soil that lends itself to incredible wines, with additional mineral elements and depth of flavors. This winery is incredibly beautiful, as if you stepped into the book, Under the Tuscan Sun (yes, I know I was in a different geographic area, but it just looks so Italian). It is ripe with history, elegance and sophistication and there was just a warmth in the smiles of everyone we came in contact with. Sure they work in a winery in Sicily, of course they are happy, right?



The tour started in the cellar, for lack of a better word. We stood in this old stone barn type building surrounded by giant barrels. And when I say giant barrels, I mean GIANT barrels. The building was actually built around the barrels, that is how big I am talking about.


The barrels were over 200 years old.  The building is naturally cooled and from the moment you step onto the stone stairs you get the smell of wine and oak which I swear is an aphrodisiac for me ( a little too much information huh).


Barone Di Villagrande uses French Oak, however they also use some chestnut barrels, for their white wines, which is unusual. Their property is ripe with chestnut trees and so they send them to a local cooper who in hand turns them into barrels for their wines. They use chestnut wood because it has a lot of tannins in the wood and so they describe it as being a "perfect marriage" between the wood and the wine. I do have to say I loved their white wine and it does have a nutty and oaky flavor which is incredible. I love buttery oaky California chards, but their white wines took these flavors to another level.

Our tour guide was a lovely Italian woman, who married one of the wineries owners sons. She made me realize that I had seriously made poor choices when getting married. I have been married to a Fireman and a Cop....hmmm why the hell didn't I marry an Italian winery owners son? That was pretty dumb on my part! I digress...the winery is one of the oldest in Sicily and they have vines that are between 20-100 years old. Talk about taking "old vine" wines to another level!

After our tour we were brought to this private dining room for dinner and wine tasting. Everything about the winery, hell the whole country, screamed simple elegance. The white wines were paired with antipasto that included bruschetta with fresh tomatoes, fresh cheese with peppercorns, salami and the best roasted peppers I have ever had. Sure I eat roasted peppers all of the time, but these were sweet and had the right combination of charred flavor and they were served with lemons that really brought out the essence of the wine. Heaven!


The first wine of the night was the Etna Bianco, which had the more nutty and woody elements. It was light and smooth, but it still had layers of incredible flavor. This was by far my favorite white of the evening!


The night white reminded me more of a viognier or pinot grigio. It was just a little bit more acidic in my opinion, still an incredible wine, but just not the varietal that I normally drink.


The meal was designed to go with the red wines. So it included zucchini pasta, fresh sausage, meatballs, grilled eggplant, salad and potatoes. I was constantly amazed throughout this trip how the Sicilians would take simple ingredients and turn them into something magnificent. It was truly a testament to the use of fresh ingredients, especially fresh herbs, cooking with love and embracing the natural flavors of the food. I can't even tell you why, but this was the best sausage I have ever had!


 Just as a reminder in Italy the salad is usually used as a palate cleanser. Also just loved this bowl!



 My favorite red of the night was the Etna Rosato. It reminded me of a California Pinot Noir, with a light texture, a light fruit forward flavor and just a very smooth finish.


The next red we tasted was the Sciara, which they called their "meditation wine." Let me just say that I suck at meditation, but if I could drink this wine before meditation, well it might just make me a believer. This wine was more robust than the Etna Rosato and you could taste more of the mineral content from the soil. It had flavors more similar to a Merlot or a lighter Cab, it was more intense and more in your face.

However, in general I was amazed with Italian wines. They were light and not filling. They were all incredibly smooth and they left you with a pleasant buzz that never led to obliteration or a hangover. Let me just say I drank a lot of wine during this 12 day trip and I never woke up with a headache, feeling slow or like I wanted to die. We asked about the alcohol content and they are comparable to the wines in the states. The only thing we could think of was the fact that they don't use the sulfites we do and most of the wines we drank were organic, but it was incredible how different I felt after drinking Italian wines.

The evening came to a close with the dessert wine and a panna cota with a citrus sauce. I am not a dessert wine fan however both the dessert and the wine had citrus flavors and truly were perfect together.




 We asked about getting the wines here in the states and they mentioned they just started distributing them in California through a company called Palermo Wine Distributors, however I can't find their web page. It does look like you can purchase the wines directly from the winery, but they are quite a bit more expensive. However, they also have a resort at this winery that looks absolutely breathtaking and I have already decided I would kill to stay here. Here is their web page: http://www.villagrande.it/en/
I did find that if you go to Wine Searcher the wines are available through a distributor in New Jersey and another one in New York. They also had the wines available on eBay, however I have never purchased wine via eBay so I can't recommend that method. http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/baron+villagrande+rosso+etna+sicilia+italy/-/-/-/a

What I can tell you is that these wines are definitely worth the effort of tracking them down and when I return to Sicily I will definitely be returning to this villa. Cheers!