dining in the winery Villa Bucher

If you did not know before, now you know that there is a union for wineries producing wines from volcanoes, and our host for this evening, Villa Bucher, is going to join this union. The ground where the winery is built was once an old volcano area that used to be the bottom of the sea and is covered with fossils of sea animals.

So here we are for a dinner of volcano wines and Sicilian food.

There are 3 pairs of wines, each pair has one wine from Sicilia, one from Umbria coming with antipasto, primo, and secondo.

Antipasto is a salad of blood orange, fennel, olives, pistachios and capers. It is simple and delicious because it’s made of fresh ingredients of premium quality.

I have a prejudice against volcano wines because I often find them too acidic, even tart. But the white wine from the volcano doesn’t seem too acidic to me because it is also rich and ample, so you don’t feel too much acidity, though the acidity is not really low. I like this Sicilian white very much.

For the second pair of wine with the primo, I would prefer the rosato from Villa Bucher because it is more savory and has a stronger vegetable flavour. The rosato from Sicily seems more like a white wine than a rosato to me, and it has quite high acidity, tasting like a green-reddish plum.

The third pair is Nerello Mascalese from Sicily and Cabernet Franc from Umbria. The Nerello Mascalese is lighter and has higher acidity, while the Cabernet Franc gives a greater sense of volume. This doesn’t mean it seems massive, but rather more clean-cut and smart.

And then we had a nice cheese cake for dessert. 

Anyway, it is always worthwhile to go to a dinner hosted by a winery. Basically, you only pay for the food and get good wines for free. Plus, the dining place in wineries usually has a good view. So, try to join next time when there is a chance for dinner at the winery!