{"id":1371,"date":"2019-10-01T13:28:13","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T13:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1371"},"modified":"2019-10-01T13:39:13","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T13:39:13","slug":"mt-etna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1371","title":{"rendered":"Mt. Etna"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s unusual to have wine tasting, a natural wonder and history all in one place. But Mt. Etna, on Sicily\u2019s east coast between Taormina and Catania, fits all three descriptions.\u00a0 On any clear day \u2013 and most days in Sicily are fair \u2013 you can see steam wafting out of the top of the mountain.\u00a0 Mornings are best for viewing, before the peak gets shrouded in emissions.<\/p>\n

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Mt. Etna looming in the distance, from Taormina<\/em><\/p>\n

There are many tours available.\u00a0 Unless you are an avid hiker in rather severe conditions, it\u2019s best to take one of them.\u00a0 Some tours are rather strenuous but others, such as the one we took, are for people who would rather take a brisk walk.\u00a0 Much of the mountain is forested and quite pretty but the parts you\u2019ll be most interested in seeing are those where there is hardened lava from previous eruptions.<\/p>\n

And oh, yes, Etna does still erupt.\u00a0 Leaving aside the ones documented in Roman antiquity (or even further back) there have been major blasts as recently as 2017 and 2018.\u00a0 The former injured ten people.\u00a0 The latter was accompanied by an earthquake that injured a few people as far away as Catania.\u00a0 Your tour guide will show you lava deposits and note that this one was from 1928, that one from 1997 and that one over there was 2002. \u00a0Fair warning: The solidified lava is granular and has some sharp edges.\u00a0 One of the people on our tour slipped and was pretty badly scratched.<\/p>\n

As a tourist, you won\u2019t be suddenly surprised by lava spewing during your visit.\u00a0 The mountain gives fair warning by rumbling and burping before it blows.\u00a0 The local authorities will keep you away from anywhere near Mt. Etna.\u00a0 You\u2019ll get some great photos if you\u2019re there for an eruption (we know someone who was there in 2002) but your vacation will smell a bit of sulphur and smoke.<\/p>\n

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The remains of an inn buried in lava from the 2002 eruption<\/em><\/p>\n

The people in the villages around Mt. Etna take the possibility of eruption with stoic acceptance.\u00a0 If it happens, they take it in stride and visit their families somewhere else.\u00a0 In the meantime, they\u2019re preoccupied with making wine.\u00a0 (And olive oil and sausages and pistachios, but let\u2019s focus on the wine.)\u00a0 They make whites from Carricante, Catarratto, Grecanico, Inzolia and Minnella, all of which are virtually unknown outside of Sicily.\u00a0 As good as they are \u2013 and we find Sicilian whites very good indeed \u2013 they are best known for Etna Rosso, red wines made from two different clones of the same grape: Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio.\u00a0 The majority of the vineyards are on the northern and eastern slopes of Mt. Etna.<\/p>\n

To be a DOC Etna Rosso, a wine must be at least 80% Mascalese and many are 100%.\u00a0 These grapes make mellow, tannic wines.\u00a0 If you like to taste the minerally characteristics of grapes grown in lava, look for the Cappuccio.\u00a0 If like us you don\u2019t care for that taste, try to avoid that blending grape.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s unusual to have wine tasting, a natural wonder and history all in one place. But Mt. Etna, on Sicily\u2019s east coast between Taormina and Catania, fits all three descriptions.\u00a0 On any clear day \u2013 and most days in Sicily are fair \u2013 you can see steam wafting out of the top of the mountain.\u00a0 … Continue reading Mt. Etna<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1371"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1374,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1371\/revisions\/1374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}