Storyteller

I am particularly attached to this beautiful region because of the memory of some exciting experiences at work and elsewhere, which took me there in the late 1990s and introduced me to a Sicily that was surprising and unknown to me at the time. So, with renewed enthusiasm I jumped at the invitation of a supplier friend to accompany him on a short business/pleasure trip to the east of the island. Marsala-Siracusa-Messina-Etna were the stages of the trip, compressed into just three days, unfortunately, however necessary and sufficient to break away from the daily routine and recharge the batteries after the exertions of an intense grape harvest. One of the most important wineries in Sicily and beyond on the first day in Marsala, a new up-and-coming entity located just above the Strait of Messina on the second day and then a small, but only in numbers, winery on Mount Etna on the third. Every trip, whether business or pleasure, is an experience that enhances you and opens your mind to different ways of seeing and feeling things, things that can confirm or upset your own points of view. What will remain with me? If we talk about work: the order and organisation of work in the splendid cellar of Donnafugata in Marsala (surprising wines for their cleanliness and freshness, much less “Sicilian” than I remembered them); the project and the “desire” behind the winery The Casemates in Messina where you can feel the sea in your glass; and Etna and Nerello Mascalese that at the winery Right of Randazzo become a masterful fusion of minerality and acidity in the wines, whether they are powerful reds or bubbles of rare freshness and flavour. And the pleasure? Well, the Sicilians and their cordiality above all; the bike ride, at night, to Ortigia (the ancient island centre of Syracuse); the simple conviviality that was created with the two travelling companions; the many wines tasted and the raw fish and then the citrus fruits that are picked by the side of the road, the granita with brioche... Thank you Michele. What can I say... Sicily is always beautiful. Diego