Sicily has always been a challenge for all but the hardest core lovers of Italian wines. Wine production on the island is prolific, but it often seems that wine is produced merely for the sake of producing wine, rather than for the sake of making anything that anyone would want to drink. There are of course a few exceptions, wines that point to the possibility of making really delicious wines in Sicily, and one has to think that there is some reason, besides that the locals like to drink, that Sicily has thousands of years of winemaking history.

Though Cottanera isn’t a winery that I was familiar with before a month or so ago, this is obviously one of those exceptions. The wines, particularly this one, are delicious. Their advantage, besides what appears to be enormous investment in the winery, is a superior vineyard, located on volcanic soils of the slopes of Mt. Etna, approximately 730m above sea level. The volcanic soils are rich in mineral salts, which encourage acidity and minerality in the grapes, while the altitude tempers the intense heat of Sicily by providing for very cool nights, again capturing acidity, and intensity of fruit.

Francesco Cambria, who bought the property and started Cottanera in the 1960’s, has passed the directorship to his sons, Guglielmo and Enzo, who’s children, Mariangela, Francesco and Emanuele also take an active role in the operations.  The winemaker is Lorenzo Landi.

This wine is made from 100% Insolia, a grape thought to be native to Sicily, and found almost nowhere else (it occasionally shows up in Tuscany as Ansonica). I have to admit that I don’t have enough experience to say whether this wine is typical of the grape, but for the sake of good drinking, I hope it is: it is rich, but with exceptionally fine acidity, loads of lime, stonefruit, flowers, and minerally delights. I expect that beyond the high temperatures of the Island, some of the richness of this wine comes from the 6 months the wine spent on it lees in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks.

Try it with Salmon, or duck, or a pork roast. Or just with hard, salty, pungent cheese like Sicilian Canestrato. Drink now – 2010.