Today was one that Irv had been looking forward to all trip. We haven’t had a lot of chances to experience wine tasting here, as so many of the wineries are very small scale and do not offer cellar door tasting like we have become accustomed to in North America. You pretty much have to arrange for a tasting beforehand to visit a winery. Plus they are very busy at the wineries, being in the midst of, or just finishing up harvest. So other than the tasting at Murgo near Etna, we have had to restrict our wine sampling to dinners.
But today, through his connections at Vines, Irv had pre-arranged a visit to Planeta, a winery whose wines they carry at the store. Planeta is a family owned and run winery, or actually group of wineries in Sicily, with locations in Vittorio, Noto, Etna, Capo Milozzo and their original winery in Menfi, where we went. They began planting in 1985 and produced their first wines in 1995. However the history of the family in the agricultural life of Sicily extends back 17 generations.
Thanks to Google Maps’ stellar directions (not!) we ended up driving to the estate by the barely-a-road route, with many twists, turns and bumps. But found it eventually and were welcomed by Deborah and staff. Our tour was held up a bit because another couple was also doing the tour and they had got lost on the way. Turned out they actually had a car and driver, a local, and even he got turned around!!
We first had a look at the vineyards surrounding the winery, then a tour of the facility, including a trip down to the cellar where the barrels are stored. Deborah, whose English and wine knowledge were both excellent, explained that the philosophy behind Planeta is the quality comes before quantity. When they set out to make wine they wanted to showcase typical Sicilian grapes, but also wanted to produce good quality wine from more international varieties. So their first production was a chardonnay. She explained that each of the different estates produces only wine from the grapes that are grown at that location. Given that each estate is in a different part of Sicily, this means that the wines vary due to type of grape, terroir, and climate.
Once we had finished the tour, we headed in to the tasting room, where Irv and I, along with the other couple, tasted a variety of their wines. Mer and Richard, being driver and navigator, took one for the team and did not taste. The other couple were from Baltimore, and he was interesting to talk to, or should I say, listen to! He is a physician and a professor, specializing in organ transplants, and has been to both Calgary and Edmonton several times. He had much admiration for our medical system in Canada. A bit self-involved, but pleasant enough company.
After the tasting we headed out to the patio to enjoy a sumptuous lunch, accompanied by more of their delicious wine. Even Richard and Mer enjoyed a glass. Irv picked up a couple of bottles to either take home or consume here, depending on what we do next.
After that great experience, we headed to a rather quirky place that Mer had discovered through Atlas Obscura, a website that she follows that highlights strange and out of the way places in the world. We visited a place called the “Enchanted Castle”, which was neither. It is actually a property in Sciacca on which a rather odd man named Filippo Bentivegna spent most of his life carving faces on rocks, which he then put out all over his property. Apparently he carved over 3 000 of them. He was a bit of an odd duck, having sustained a brain injury in a fight over a woman, with a rival suitor. The property is quite extensive and has hundreds and hundreds of these carved rocks all over it.
After such a filling lunch at the winery, none of us felt much like dinner, so we just finished off the rest of the leftover pizza from the night before. A couple of games or cards and dice and we were ready ro call it a day.