Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

Sicily at Vinitaly, innovation and successes

This year's Vinitaly is increasingly characterized by innovation and internationalization in Sicily. Just under twenty-four hours after the closing of the great Verona Fair, an initial assessment is made which appears to be positive.

Great interest from the public and operators first and foremost for "SiciliaWineCloud", the multimodal information system that allows visitors to search among the 180 wineries present in the pavilion, to locate the stand within the over eight thousand square meters of exhibition space and to search by grape variety, protection or label your favorite wine among the over two thousand brought by Sicilian producers.

The system was designed and created by InformAmuse srl, the university spin-off of the University of Palermo on behalf of the Regional Institute of Wines and Oils of Sicily. Over 145 thousand admissions to the Sicily pavilion in just two days. But the Sicilian Vinitaly 2012 was also full of events and recognitions. Like the awarding of the Cangrande Medal to the meritorious of Italian viticulture to Fabio Sireci of the Feudo Montoni winery. Or the visit of the European Union Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos.

“Tradition and territory is the union that we carry forward – comments Sireci – behind a glass of wine we must not forget that there is the land and the work”. The recognition was presented by the Minister of Agricultural Policies Mario Catania who praised the great growth of the Sicilian wine sector, recognizing the island's producers with those abilities that have allowed the entire region to transform a quantity production into a true excellence of the Italian panorama with quality levels that are difficult to reach and with an export-oriented system. The director Dario Cartabellotta instead made an appeal to the institutions to protect Sicilian identities, the island's quality business card in the world: “Today the protection of our identities – said Cartabellotta – is the only way that can defend the Sicilian excellence in the world from the risk of counterfeiting and from some European regulations which risk not recognizing the organoleptic properties of the oil". And the governor of Sicily Raffaele Lombardo remarked: “Sicily's presence at Vinitaly 2012 is yet another piece that aims to integrate development and legality. Even in the world of wine we are witnessing a Copernican revolution which aims to improve quality, strengthen the production system and guarantee new commercial outlets for our production". The Verona Fair was also an opportunity for Sicily to "churn out" new ideas. Such as that of establishing a Consortium for the Mamertino Doc. There are one thousand hectares of vineyards in the Messina area, of which three hundred are planted with Mamertino, a vine that dates back to very ancient times in these areas. The goal is to team up allowing the manufacturer to optimize his investment. But not only that, the objective is also to aim for quality: the establishment of a Consortium would allow greater guarantees for the Mamertino DOC.