Sicilia DOC

There are plans afoot for Sicily to get a Sicily DOC (in addition to all the regional DOCs and IGTs). DOC stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata while IGT stands for Indicazione Geographica Tipica. A DOC signifies that particular attention is paid to the region and provide (notionally) more quality guarantees while IGT simply indicates the geographic origin of the wine. There is also a DOCG, which is a DOC Garantita, awarded to those DOCs that have retained a particularly high level of quality for at least five years.

In Sicily there is a variety of DOC's (Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Moscato di Noto, Moscato di Pantelleria e Passito di Pantelleria, Monreale, Menfi, Marsala, etc). However, all these DOCs are also confusing consumers, and it is not creating any awareness for Sicily in general.

We have spoken a couple of times here about the vast improvement in Sicilian wine over the past four or five years. Sicilian wineries however are not resting on their laurels, and rightly so. There is a determination to get the appreciation they think they deserve for the quality of wine they produce. And there is a lot to be achieved yet. Reading the international press you usually get the same set of four or five producers (with Planeta and Donnafugata certainly present). A visit to a supermarket (even one of the better ones) may reveal a Nero d'Avola or even a Cerasuolo, but more often than not they are not even from Sicily.

Therefore, a new DOC is in the works. DOC Sicilia - aimed at identifying and distinguishing wines like Nero d'Avola that are coming from Sicily from those coming from other areas of the world. The next five years should be especially interesting for Sicilian wine.