Winery Tour

Today was one of my favorite days at work. Probably because I got to play tourist and was spoiled with an 3 course lunch composed of typical Sicilian dishes, all made from ingrediants that came right from the estate, and amazing wine as well(Duh!). I helped give tours around the winery and explain the things that make Tasca D’Almerita one of the best wineries in Sicily. Would you like to hear my speech...Andiamo!

...The story of the beautiful estate of Regaleali began over 160 years ago, in the early 1830’s when the Tasca D’Almerita family originally purchased over 1200 hectares of land in these foothills between the provenances of Caltanisetta and Palermo. At that time the main production of the estate was wheat. After the agrarian reform in the mid 1900’s, over half of the land was taken away and divided into smaller properties for the poor, decreasing it to 500 hectares. Currently, we have about 420 hectares under vine, leaving the rest for olive trees and some unoccupied for the planting of vineyards and the future success of the winery. The altitude of the vineyards vary from about 400-800 meters, creating an ideal microclimate for the grapes. This estate is more than just vineyards though. Even today, it is practically self sufficient and produces all of it’s own vegetables, fruit, wheat, olives, cheeses and meats.

In the 1950’s Conte Guiseppe Tasca started a revolution for Sicilian winemaking when he decided to produce wine of quality rather than quantity. He began with the production of Regaleali Bianco and soon after Regaleali Rosso. After investing in the celler in the 70’s and purchasing temperature controlled tanks, Slovenian oak barrels, and machines to work the vineyards, he was ready to create a superior wine capable of aging like those being produced in France. It was then that the flagship wine, Rosso del Conte (originally called Reserva del Conte) was born from the Sicilian variety, Nero D’Avola (with a small percentage of Perricone). Today, 25 years later, the original 3,000-6,000 liter Slovanian oak barrels are still used. Not to add character to the wine but only as good containers.



The vineyards are comprised mostly of the red indigenous varietals of Nero D’Avola, Nerello Mascalese, and Perricone; and the white varietals of Cattarato, Insolia, Greccanico, Moscato, and Grillo. In the 1980’s Conte Lucio planted the first international varieties in Sicily, Chardonnay and Cabernet, which are still used to produce their top wines. They also cultivate Merlot, Syrah, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Bianco, Sauvignon Tasca, Traminer, and other experimental varieties. Tasca D'Almerita has production areas in 5 different areas of Sicily. These include the original Regaleali estate, Capofaro on the Aeolian Island of Salina (famous for Malvasia), the Mozia island in cooperation with the Whittaker foundation (famous for its Grillo vineyards), and most recently in the Etna volcanic region (Nerello Mascalese). They also tend to the vineyards of their cousins of Sallier de la Tour, in the camporeale area, close to Palermo. With production in these diverse regions, the winery has the ability to produce a diverse collection of wines, each with individually distinctive characteristics.

Of course the winemaking process must begin in the vineyards, because without quality grapes it is impossible to produce quality wine. The harvest begins mid-August with Chardonnay as a base for their vino spumante which is made with the Champoinse method and considered one of Sicily’s best sparkling wines. The harvest will finish mid-October with Nero D’Avola and Cattarato. The majority of the grapes are picked by hand (90%) and the rest by machine, if absolutely necessary. Once they arrive at the winery and are weighed and a machine determines temperature, acidity, and sugar content of the grapes. Then the truck empties the grapes into a large open tank that feeds them into the de-stemmer which quickly rotates the bunches, allowing only the berries to fall through the small holes, separating them from the stems. At this point, the process varies depending on whether we’re making red or white wine. If working with a white varietal, the grapes are pumped immediately into the press. The “fiore”, or free run juice, is released from the grapes simply from the pressure from the weight of the grapes. This juice is the best quality and runs into a holding tank below the press. Once the press is full of grapes, a balloon like device inside exerts pressure to force the grapes to release the “pressatto” or press wine, while the skins remain in the press. After this, the juice is transferred into a fermentation tank where yeast is added and it will remain for 10-15 days, depending on the varietal and style of wine being produced. During this time period, the temperature and condition of the yeasts are carefully controlled and the winemaker tastes the juice in each tank daily, to ensure the fermentation is continuing correctly. For the production of red wine, it is important that the juice ferments while still in contact with the skin and pulp, in order to extract as much color and tannin as possible. During this process the skins will float to the top of the tank forming the cap, which has to be pumped over every 6 hours or so to ensure that the must constantly remains in contact with the skins. Once fermentation is complete the juice under the cap is removed and pumped into another tank and the seeds and skins are sent into the press where a balloon like device squeezes them to extract the rest of the juice known as the pressato. The skins that are left in the press are sent to the distillery in Messina where they are used to produce Grappa.

There are 2,000, 225 liter French oak barriques which are only used for three years; the first year for “Rosso Del Conte” (80% of the estate’s best Nero D’Avola and 20% of the another premium varietal), Cabernet Sauvignon (18 months), and Chardonnay (8 months). The second year they are used for the estate selections of “Camastra” (70% Nero D’Avola-30% Merlot) and “Cygnus” (70% Nero D’Avola, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon) which each spend 14 months in the barrique. The last year they are used for “Lamuri” (Nero D’Avola) and spends 1 year inside. After three years they are available for smaller wineries to purchase for about 100 euros. Each year they purchase about 600 new barriques, each costing about 700 euros. One thing they do here that sets them apart from most others is that every 4 months they wash out the barriques to remove the sediment. It takes about a month and a half to complete this labor intensive process. One barrel of wine is lost for every 100 that are cleaned. It is an expensive process, but is very important in producing wine of high quality.




Lastly, the wine is bottled in the brand new, state of the art bottling factory and either aged for some time in the bottle or distributed for immediate consumption. Tasca D’Almerita produces over 3.3 million bottles of wine each year and exports to over 60 countries all over the world, with Germany and the U.S. at the top of the list.

Sunday September 13th

Although today was my day off, there was no sleeping in. First off, thanks to the possessed rooster living right across the street from my bedroom window. For a rooster, this crazy animal has no sense of time and crows randomly ALL throughout of the day. Sometimes for a half hour, sometimes just once. Whatever he is in the mood for I guess. Although I’ve started to get used to it, almost like you do the bark of a dog, today it didn’t fail to wake me up at 7:30am. It didn’t really matter though because at 8:00 the siren went off. It is the one that was used in the old times of war to alert the town that there was danger. It goes off twice a day as a reminder of the past. Around 8:30 their version of the ice cream man makes his way through the town selling fruit and vegetables and announcing today’s specials over an intercom. And remember I am in Sicily, so by announcing I mean screaming. Then at about 9:00 the construction begins. There is a house being built behind us so I spend most of my days off listening to everything from jackhammers to drills, with sirens, roosters, and intercoms in between. It’s funny.

Later that day, as I walked up the steep alley to mass, I was glared at by all the old men playing cards and having their coffee outside of the bars. Even though it has been about a month since I arrived here, they still seem so curious about the blond American who is living in their little town. There are only about 1,500 people living here, but there are at least four churches. Sicily is very Catholic and the towns here are centered around the Church. Thanks to the tradition, although the mass was in Italian I could still follow the majority of it. All of the children sit together in the front two or three rows (where the nuns made sure they behaved). Again, on my way back home, I was stared at as I passed each bar by the same old men sitting outside, still playing cards, who had now substituted their coffee for beer.

9.11

September 11th. Very different here. Many people gave their condolences, trying to understand what it must have been like for the American people, but they were not there for the experience I can so clearly remember. Being here has made me appreciate America even more. Although we have our own problems, as all countries do, there is no place else in the world quite like it ( for the good, the bad, and the ugly). I am proud to call myself an American. Being in Italy has been an eye opener for me. The people here find greater happiness in the simple things in life, which I love. But I think we, as Americans, are all very fortunate to have everything we need or want at our fingertips. This experience has definitely made me understand the difference between the significant things in life and the unnecessary. While we made dinner tonight, my roommates and I went back and forth requesting songs. They like a lot of the same music I do, and it was interesting to see which oldies but goodies made their list too.

Fieldtrip...Literally!

I went on a fieldtrip today! Since I’ve spent my time so far working in the winery and haven’t had the chance to see what it’s like to work in the vineyard, I was excited to venture out to the beautiful rolling hills and get my hands dirty. Early in the morning, we went to one of the vineyards where Merlot grapes were ready to be harvested. These were not grapes of the highest quality so it was being done by machine instead of by hand. The tall yellow monster drives over each row of vines, vibrating them and shaking the grapes off of the stems, collecting them as it goes along. I even got to take a ride…Disneyland for farmers!

In the afternoon Yoni and I saw the more romantic and classic method of harvesting grapes…by hand. This is done in the majority of the vineyards (90%), and requires many men who all work their butts off! There were about 40 men working in this vineyard and I don’t think they knew quite what to make of us blondies (the vineyard manager joked that he needs to bring us out there more often to motivate the guys). They begin picking at the start of each row, working their way up the row cutting the bunches of grapes and placing them in the bucket next to them. After about 20 minutes, the buckets are almost full so they all pass them over their heads and the vines to the person in the next row, who passes it over to the next person in the next row, and so on until it reaches the middle and can be dumped into the tractor. They have to do this at least 10 times before reaching the end of one row. Although we helped out for a little bit, it was not enough to really get my hands dirty like I expected.

Tonight I stayed at the winery in one of the guesthouses with Yoni. There are a few guesthouses on the estate and they are all very nice. I am glad to actually leave work when I am done rather than staying here, but this is a nice change from my plain, old apartment. We made a really yummy homemade pizza and had a wonderful dinner outside. There is supposed to be a storm rolling in so it was a little windy. Just enough to freshen the air and leave it smelling like the flowers that surround the estate.

Wine Tasting

There are 2 other women here right now but they will only be here for a week or two and they are staying on the winery rather than in our apartment. One of them is a sommelier from Canada who won a trip to travel all around Southern Italy and visit the best wineries to learn about the winemaking process. What a trip! The other is a light blond haired, bright-blue eyed girl named Yoni who is from Holland and now lives in Palermo now with her Sicilian boyfriend. She’s studying international business and language and is doing this internship to learn about the marketing/hospitality side of the winery business. She is at the winery for 2 weeks and will work in exportation office in Palermo for 3 months, traveling around Europe and learning about the exportation process.

Today, I joined them in a wine tasting which included a few wines that aren't exported out of Italy. It was great to hear the history about the winery and the stories behind each wine…and the wine wasn‘t bad either ;o) One of the most interesting wines fo me was the Grillo from the ancient island of Mozia. Tasca D’Almerita was asked to take on the project of restoring and improving the historical vineyards here and they’ve produced a wine that is very true to varietal, yet unique due to the land and location of the old vines. For example, there are salt mills on the island, and you can taste the influence from them in the wine.

There is a lot of tradition, history, and pride here. The family has always been and is still very involved in the winery. They live in Palermo but are here at the estate often and work with the people in person rather than just over the phone or through emails. Most of the people that work here have been here for a long time and are like family.

dance, dance, dance.

9/12

Today I met the famous winemaker Carlo Ferrini. He is one of Italy‘s foremost winemaking consultants and was recently awarded “winemaker of the year” in New York by Wine Enthusiast Magazine. He is known for his work in Tuscany and is kinda a legend in the world of wine so it was an honor to meet him.

In the afternoon, there was not too much work to do so I played (and I mean really played) with Laura’s kids. We did everything from play board games to house, and hide and go seek and tag in the vineyards in their backyard. It was actually really fun and I felt like a kid again! Laura’s daughter is such a sweet little girl. She holds my hand everywhere we go and when I went to leave I almost walked out the door without giving her a kiss until she came over and tugged on my shirt and said “baciami” (kiss me) and turned her cheek for me to give her a kiss. So cute!

All week we have been talking about going dancing on Saturday. Even some of the boys I live with were excited about it. I assumed we’d go to a bar or club, have a few drinks, and dance. But I was clearly mistaken. At 7pm on a Saturday night, I found myself in a recreational dance class with about 8 of the locals from the town, learning a salsa/meringue dance number. At first I was a little apprehensive, but once I let loose I had a great time. I haven’t danced like that since the cheerleading days!

Kareokee!

9/1

There are 2 other women here at the winery right now but they will only be here for a week or two and they are staying on the winery rather than in our apartment. One of them is a sommelier from Canada who won a trip to travel all around Southern Italy and visit the best wineries to learn about the winemaking process. What a trip! The other is a light blond haired, bright-blue eyed girl named Yoni who is from Holland and now lives in Palermo now with her Sicilian boyfriend. She’s studying international business and language and is doing this internship to learn about the marketing/hospitality side of the winery business. She is at the winery for 2 weeks and will work in the office in Palermo for 3 months, traveling around Europe and learning about the exportation process. She is my age and might have stood out here even more than I do if she wasn’t fluent in Italian.

Today, I joined them in a wine tasting of almost all of the wines that Tasca makes. It was great to hear the history about the winery and the stories behind each wine…and the wine wasn‘t bad either ;o) (It was a treat to taste the few wines that they do not export and that you can only find in Italy!) The family has always been and is still very involved here. They are at the estate often and work with the people in person rather than just over the phone. Most of the people that work here have been here for a long time and it seems like everyone works well together and is very close. They make a good team.

9/3

I started my 2 week internship in the laboratory today. No one thinks I can make it through two weeks with the crazy chemist. He talks nonstop, thinks he knows everything, and is always complaining that so-and-so doesn’t do this or that right. A lot of people find him hard to be around. He can be a little heavy at times but I don’t really mind him actually. Probably because I can only understand about 60% of what he says so I kinda pick and choose when I want to listen to him. My work consists of measuring the Babo, PH, total acidity, ect of the samples from the grapes that are still in the vineyards to determine when they would be ready to harvest. Being in the lab is not foreign to me and the day’s actually go by faster there so I am enjoying it.

Today I realized that not only is the chemist crazy but he’s a singer too! While we were waiting for samples from the vineyards to test, he began telling me how he plays the guitar and likes to sing so I jokingly said “come on, sing a song”. With a big grin on his face, he headed over to the computer and to my surprise, turned on a karaoke program! I thought he was kidding but as the words popped up on the screen he cleared his throat and starting singing a very deep, slow, and out of sync version of “Yesterday” by the Beatles. I wished I could go back to yesterday at this point! His voice was raspy and coarse from all the smoking but he said that he likes it because he is “a soul singer”. It took everything inside of me not to laugh hysterically. Who ever thought working in the lab could be so entertaining!?