Donnafugata Winery, Marsala

​Marsala is a city closely linked to the wine tradition of our country and not only to the famous wine of the same name (the Marsala!)..
Preparing my trip to Sicily I imagined crossing the threshold of the parent company of one of the most famous Italian labels, Donnafugata.
Although it will not be possible to visit vineyards here in Marsala (here only refining and bottling occur), you can still breathe the feeling of the 'mother house' of the Rallo family (the founders) and taste some of their best productions.
Donnafugata in all counts 405 hectares of vineyards scattered between Countess Entellina, Pantelleria and the most recent territories of Vittoria and Etna, for a total of 2 and a half million bottles per year.

​For my visit to the winery I chose the Donna Gabriella formula, which is a Donnafugata 5 icon wines tasting in combination with 5 small typical regional dishes.
Among all three wines, there was a real excitement, both in the tasting and in the combination of food.
 
The Chiarandà of 2007 Contessa Entellina DOC, a Chardonnay with a Mediterranean soul, a refinement part of wood and part concrete, elegant and long-lived, perfectly combined with a potato omelette.

​Mille e una Notte Sicilia DOC 2015, spends 13 months in wood and 24 in the bottle, Nero d'Avola, Petit Verdot, Syrah and other grapes: superb with tuna meatballs with sauce.

​But the sceptre of my favorite wine, awarded this year at Vinitaly as the best sweet wine in Italy, the Ben Ryè 2016 Passito di Pantelleria DOC can hardly leave indifferent: those notes of apricot sweetness compensated by the freshness of orange peel is so balanced that you would like to drink an entire bottle; obviously ideal in accompaniment to sweets, in this case proposed with crumbled ricotta and chocolate.