Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

Sicilian sparkling wines among the great protagonists of Vinitaly 2024

80 companies producing 150 labels for a total of approximately 1.9 million bottles of sparkling wine

Perhaps not everyone knows that Sicilian bubbles have a centuries-old tradition. In fact, already at the end of the 19th century, a "champagne" produced on Etna by the Castello di Solicchiata winery with Pinot Noir grapes won international awards in France. With this historical premise, but also to respond to the demands of an evolving market especially in the youth segment, the Regional Wine and Oil Institute of Sicily launches the research project on "development of high-quality sparkling wines with a strong territorial characterization". All with a significant social value: the first part of the experiment involves a social cooperative that manages land confiscated from the mafia.

The initiative was presented yesterday in the Sicily pavilion at Vinitaly by director of Irvo, Gaetano Aprile, which he remarked as the Institute «intends to enhance a production segment that is not very consolidated in Sicily, but with enormous development prospects». The Irvo project, in collaboration with Crea, which started in 2023 with a 5-year perspective, involves the experimentation of new techniques for making sparkling wine from some Sicilian vines: Catarratto (already produced in two different versions and offered as a preview at Vinitaly with a tasting led by Stefano Cosma, director of Bubbles Italia) which will also be followed in the next steps by Grillo, Nerello Mascalese, Zibibbo and Perricone.

Antonio Sparacio, Irvo manager responsible for the Research sector, illustrated the content of the project, starting from some significant data: in Sicily there are 80 companies producing 150 labels for a total of approximately 1.9 million bottles. But this number represents just 1% of the total wine production at a regional level and just as much compared to the total sparkling wines in Italy.

«There is a double need for change, climate and market, which leads us to update the Region's strategy - states the Councilor for Agriculture Luca Sammartino - starting from the consideration that bubbles do not necessarily only know how to do it well in Veneto: in Sicily there is also a tradition regarding this product and now, thanks to Irvo's hard and careful work, we can experience a quality Sicilian sparkling wine that captures the younger segments of the market".

The social impact of the project in the places confiscated from the mafia

In this project there is also the added value that one of the first experiments on Cataract was carried out on the land of the "Verbumcaudo" coop, in Polizzi Generosa. «It is one of the first confiscations of assets from the mafia, in particular belonging to Michele Greco known as 'U Papa, who was first investigated by Giovanni Falcone", explained Luca Li Vecchi, president of the cooperative, saying he was "honored to collaborate with Irvo with what is the first post-mafia viticultural plant on the land confiscated where other agricultural products are produced".