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Sicily: Ancient land, hot new wine zone.
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The Byzantine cathedral of Monreale, evidence
of the splendor of Sicily in the Middle Ages.
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The 900-year-old Norman cathedral of Monreale
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Floor to ceiling mosaics and gold leaf cover
the interior of the Monreale cathedral
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An old baglio houses the hot new
Planeta wine estate
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Planeta's Chardonnay and Merlot first
attracted notice of the international wine world, then their indigenous grapes
like Nero d'Avola gained kudos.
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A buffet lunch at the Planeta winery,
featuring ricotta made fresh that morning and other Sicilian cheese and lunch
treats.
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A traditional Sicilian painted cart
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The brothers Alessandro, founders of the
vineyard Alessandro di Camporeale
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Giuseppe Melia leads a tasting of the wines
of Ceuso, another boutique, family-run estate that's rapidly gaining a
following.
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The Greek temple at Segesta
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Segesta's Greek amphitheater overlooks
Sicily's land and sea.
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An old mill-stone and gnarly tree welcome us
to a boutique olive oil mill, where we'll have a tour and lunch.
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Different kinds of olives are milled
separately here to make subtly different kinds of extra virgin olive oil
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Cin Cin! The owner salutes us at a homemade lunch, which features dishes using
the estate's olive oil.
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The cathedral in the port town of Marsala
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Fish vendors at the outdoor market in Marsala
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Marsla's outdoor market features piles of
Sicilian products, such as tuna packed in olive oil
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Also at the market: Pricky pears, for
snacking and for making preserves.
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Preparing sea urchins at a seaside café
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Night harvests, to shield workers and grapes
from the sun, are routine at Donnafugata
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Inside the Donnafugata winery in Marsala,
where the Queen of Naples once fled. Later, this was the favorite residence of
author Tomasi de Lampedusa (The Leopard).
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One of Donnafugata's highly rated wines, the
Nero d'Avola blend "A thousand and one nights" (Mille e una Notte).
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Using age-old techniques--windmills and evaporation ponds--to make sea-salt.
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A boat ride will give us a different
perspective on the "saline" or sea-salt mills.
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Preparing a salt pile for the winter
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A bit of sun and sea breeze as we take a spin
on the water.
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The vineyards of boutique winery Spadafora.
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The winemaker helps ready the table for our
private lunch at the Spadafora winery.
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Tossing a bowl of steaming hot pasta. Buon
appetito!
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Traffic jam on the road to the deBartoli
winery.
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Vecchio Samperi, the nutty, dry, 10-year-aged
marsala from de Bartoli, will make a marsala convert of anyone.
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Marco de Bartoli himself hosts our tasting.
This winemaker and retired race-car driver has single-handedly revived the
reputation of marsala wine.
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