West Coast Sicily Wineries – Planeta Winery & Donnafugata Winery

A trip to the West coast of Sicily has been looming over us for the past year.  It has always been on our list to explore over there, but always gets aced for something else that comes up.  The 2+ hour drive definitely has influenced our decision.  Back in August something came up that forced us to commit to a particular weekend.  That something is the annual “E’ la notte di Calici di Stelle”  at the Donnafugata winery.  That translates to “Goblets under the stars.”  Donnafugata puts this event on every year the night of San Lorenzo.  Just a blurb on this particular night:  [quote]La Notte di San Lorenzo. Every year on the night of August 10th, Italians look up at the sky to see shooting stars; more shooting stars fall than any other night of the year (in case you have your doubts, this is scientifically proven!) This holiday celebrates the martyrdom of San Lorenzo, who died on August 10th. These stars create an atmosphere of magic and hope; Italians believe that this is a night when wishes will come true. [/quote]\

It was a great experience at the “Goblets under the stars” event.  We had a pretty big group of friends join us for the event, which made it even more special.  We all gathered on the cool grass looking up at the stars and enjoyed each others company…. and the vino did flow!

We stayed a long weekend in the Sambuca di Sicilia area so that we could also go to the Planeta winery the next day.  Planeta wines are one of our favorite local wines.   They have a very wide variety of wines and all of them are high quality.  I arranged a tour, tasting, and a lunch on site.  The vineyard surrounding the winery was amazing.  The vineyard sweeps around Lake Arancio, which looks like a blue oasis.

Planeta gave us a great tour of the winery followed by a proper tasting of all the different wines Planeta offers.  Sicilians know how to do wine tastings!  The lunch that we had was also a great experience with very good food, very cool ambiance, and great company.  They set you up at a table in an old Palmento, which is an Italian word for the traditional winery where they used to stomp the grapes and bottle.  With the new wine processes the Palmentos have gone by the wayside and have been revamped into beautiful and airy meeting places.  I snapped some pictures below to try to capture the vibe.

This weekend was Bellissima!!  If you get the chance definitely try these places out.

For more info on Planeta:   http://www.planeta.it/vini.php

For more info on Donnafugata Winery: http://www.donnafugata.it/pagine/Homepage.aspx