Corbera

Cantina Corbera is a co-operative winery in western Sicily that produces a range of primarily native-varietal wines of very good quality and excellent value. The aptly named Felice (Happy), my contact at Cantina Frentana/Vallevò in the Abruzzo, introduced me to Corbera at the Vinitaly wine fair: 'they do in Sicily what we do in the Abruzzo.' Given that Frentana's Vallevò are amazingly good wines at shockingly low prices I was very interested, so I went down to Sicily after the fair to see Corbera.

Cantina Corbera is in the little town of Santa Margherita di Belice, in the far west of Sicily. The members of this co-op* grow a variety of wine grape varieties, mostly indigenous, and of these we buy the white Inzolia and the red Nero d'Avola and Nerello Mascalese. In the last few years the quality of Sicilian wine has skyrocketed, and Corbera is a good example of this

✦ Indigenous varietal wines from a co-operative winery in western Sicily
✦ Excellent values
✦ No addition of residual sugar, oak chips or other tricks, just good everyday wines at a great price

transformation; a few years ago they hired Roberto Arienti, an enologist from Milan, to run the winery and the wines went from 'rustic' to just-right.

Inzolia

Once used mainly to make Marsala (Corbera is not far east of the town of Marsala), Inzolia when properly vinified can make very attractive crowd-pleasing white wines. This one is slightly apricotty in aroma and flavor, shows hints of almond and citrus, and is medium weight, with fairly fresh acidity. A perfect everyday drinker with no oak, malolactic or other clever cellar techniques used here, just cool fermentation in stainless steel tanks and early bottling. It knocks the socks off inexpensive California Chardonnay.

Nerello Mascalese

This variety originally comes from Mount Etna in eastern Sicily, but seems very much at home here in the western part of the island. Medium-dark red; aroma and flavor of blackberries and plums, with a hint of smokiness. Very bright and fruit-forward in style, exactly what you want in an everyday red at this price. No oak chips or added residual sweetness. It is fermented and aged in stainless steel.

Nero d'Avola

This variety has become Sicily's best-known red variety, with its abundant red and black fruit notes (with a hint of coconut). This one is stainless-steel fermented and aged. Nero d'Avola can make serious ageworthy red wine, but it does very well in this forward, drinkable style too.

Agriculture: Corbera farms conventionally, but their enologist Roberto Arienti points out that: 'Thanks to the particular growing conditions we have in Sicily (hot and dry) fewer treatments are necessary to combat mold diseases such as peronospera and botrytis, and those treatments are typically traditional ones such as sulfur dust.'

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