Regional Institute of Wine and Oil

The Regional Institute of Wine and Oil opens the “treasure chest” of its experimental cellar and conquers wine lovers

THE'Regional Institute of Wine and Oil opens the "treasure chest" of its experimental cellar and conquers wine lovers (but also the simply curious, including many young people) in Piazza Duomo, the heart of the Expo DiviNazione at the G7 in Syracuse.

In fact, a tasting on the theme took place in the Sicilian Region pavilion “Sicilian viticultural biodiversity” led by Dr. Antonio Sparacio (IRVO) and by the winemaker Salvatore Sparla. «A showcase for four wines not on the market, four “prototypes” that represent very ancient vines, with the prospect that they could become the labels of the future», said Sparacio, presenting the ancient varieties at the centre of IRVO research, about sixty in all, subjected to experimentation in germplasm collection fields.

The tasting of experimental wines started with the Foxtail, a white wine with very ancient origins: it was the Venetians who, in 1500, planted this vine in the Aeolian Islands, in particular on the island of Salina, which is very similar to the Frumentum of Croatia and in some ways to the Grecanico.

Immediately after a very particular rosé, the result of a cross between Catarratto and Aglianico: the Pastry, obtained from white vinification, which according to Sparla «has given positive responses even in these last very hot years». Pastry, which takes its name from Professor Bruno Pastena (of Campanian origins, a freelance lecturer in viticulture and author of the treatise “The new Sicilian viticulture”), has also been proposed in a red wine version, with a wine that is much more full-bodied and promising, from grapes harvested in the area between Marsala. The latest gem from the experimental cellar of Irvo is another red wine with very ancient origins: the THEthey got angry, which, beyond the name, has its centuries-old origins in the Syracuse area, these days the world capital of agriculture.

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