Acitana: The Ghost Grape of Sicily
The ongoing lockdown has left me with more time on my hands than usual, but I have spent the days well. Finally, I got around to reading Native Wine Grapes of Italy, by Ian D’Agata, which took me on a journey into the lesser-known cultivars of the old Country. My inspiration kicked off, and I set out to research more about the rarest native Italian grapes.
In previous articles, I covered Abbuoto from Lazio and Abrusco and Tempranillo from Tuscany. While these are rare cultivars, there is more information available on them. However, you will likely have to travel to Italy to sample a bottle.
The star in this story is one of the rarest cultivars I have encountered. It is almost as if this is the ghost of the grape world, you hear about it, but never touched nor tasted.
Origins
Acitana is a red grape that originated in the north of the Sicilian city of Catania. Vintners in the area believe that the grapes name stemmed from several nearby villages whose names start with “Aci.”
Today the grape is mainly grown in limited quantities near Sicily’s third City, Messina. The area is known for its Faro DOC wines. Since it is not registered, Acitana does not officially feature on the DOC list. My research led me to Giuseppe Loscacio. He represents the Palari Agricola, the only winery who openly attest to using minimal quantities of Acitana.
Cultivation
Palari has limited Acitana vines, planted alongside other native Faro cultivars. While the cultivar is not officially lodged in the National Registry of Grape Varieties and Clones, it only accounts for 1–2% of the Palari Faro.
Taste
There is no bottle that is 100% Acitana, and as mentioned above, you will only find it in the Palari Faro blend. Therefore it is challenging to detail specific tasting notes. It adds spice and red berry fruits to the Palari creation.
In the 17th Century, when Thomas Fueller said that “seeing is believing,” I’m sure he did not have Acitana on his mind. But it’s an ideal tagline for the cultivar. No one knows anything about the grape. We can only believe what the Palari team tells us, yet I will continue with my quest to find more information on the ghost of Sicily.
