With our flight switched to the evening, we had two bonus visits to Etna wineries en route to Catania airport.
After an eventful drive via the backstreets of Catania, we arrived a bit late at Benanti – one of the most historic of Etna wineries. After a very welcome glass of Metodo Classico Carricante, we strolled into the elegant gardens and vineyards and built on our knowledge of the Etna contrade and then furthered our knowledge with some excellent food and wine pairings. Delicious salami, breads, cheese and a deconstructed melanzane took us through a range of top class wines- a Carricante and three Nerello Mascales reds.
This was an excellent tasting in beautiful surroundings, but our schedule was not yet over.
From Benanti, it was a short drive – less than 2km – to Terra Costantino, a somewhat newer estate. Salvatore hosted a wonderful walk through the vineyards and the historic old winery. Organic production is very common in Sicily, but Salvatore took us to new level of understanding as he encouraged us to touch, taste and smell everything around us. We saw at first hand 120 year old vines, tasted a Rosato in the very old cellar and then moved into the tasting room for more salami, cheese and pasta.
This was another excellent visit and tasting that cemented our understanding of the complexity of the Etna terroir and brought to and end a fascinating tour of Sicily’s eastern side.
