Interview with Robert Camuto, Author of Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey
Click on the cover to read an excerpt
Nello: Your new book, Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey, is just out from the University of Nebraska Press. When and how did the idea come to you to chronicle a year spent traveling in Sicily exploring its wines?
Camuto: In 2008, I was preparing for the release of my first book, Corkscrewed, about the eccentric stalwart winemakers in France, and coming up on my 50th Birthday, I had one of those moments where one says, "If I had one more year on this earth, what would I do?" and the answer came to me naturally--"Go to Sicily."
Why did you choose to write about Sicily and not, say, Calabria or Puglia? What is it about Sicily that's so alluring in your mind?
I love so much of Italy, but Sicily is to me one of the grandest parts. It is not so much an island as a "continente": Etna spewing, the vast interior, the traces of thousands of years of civilization. I also think that Sicilian cuisine--or cuisines rather--are among the most developed in Italy. It is also Italy's largest wine producing region--in terms of volume, but there is now a booming scene toward quality. There is also more wine diversity than you find in most other regions.
Can you tell us about the architecture of your book? It's divided into seasons, why did you feel that was important? Does the word "Odyssey" in your title intentionally echo the great epic poem by Homer?
Indeed the book is divided by seasons and geography. Seasons are important because the world of wine, agriculture, and traditional cuisines are all tied to the land and the seasons--so I knew I had to live them to all to write Palmento. I chose the word "odyssey" because to me there is something epic about Sicily itself and because my time spent in Sicily was life-changing.
What are the names of some great Sicilian wines? Great Sicilian grapes?
Certainly Nero D'Avola is the best known--for producing big hearty reds mostly from the southeastern part of the island. I love the wines from Sicily's only DOCG Cerasuolo di Vittoria, which blend Nero d'Avola with the light cherry-colored wine from Frappato grapes. The most exciting wine area in Sicily is Mt. Etna where the plots are small and there are lots of producers feeding off one another. There, the king of the mountain is Nerello Mascalese grown at an altitude that produces beautiful, elegant reds. On Etna Caricante makes some lovely whites that get better with time.
Sicily's history is, of course, a complex one. What can you tell us, in brief, about its wine-making history?
Sicily has produced wine forever. For centuries its wines were shipped north to fortify the wines of northern Italy and France. Its most valued period was the nineteenth century. The post-war years were years of industrialization--quantity over quality. Now in the new generations there is an exciting rediscovery of quality and tradition.
Where do you see the Sicilian wine-making industry going in ten years, at least in the near future?
I am not a prognosticator. But my hope is that Sicily cultivates its local independent small producers and that they flourish. My fear is that Sicily would become another Australia--producing mostly corporate International Cabernet and Chardonnay wines without much personality.
On the cover of your book is a very unique image to Sicily, what can you tell us about it?
The trinacria is an ancient symbol thought to be of Greek origin (the Greeks being the first in a long line of colonizers of the island). The three legs represent the three points of the island. There is debate over whether the face represents Medusa or Apollo. Curiously a similar three-legged theme is found in northern Celtic areas of Europe such as the Isle of Man.
Now to you, I see you have Italian roots. Sicilian?
My father's father was born in Sicily (Bronte on Mount Etna) and died young after immigrating to New York in the 1930s. My mother's side is all from Vico Equense near Sorrento on the Italian mainland.
When did you discover your passion for writing?
When I was 15 and inspired by Jack Kerouac's On the Road. I have been on the road ever since.
To close, what's one especially unusual fact about Sicily you could share?
It was Julius Caesar who first conceived the idea of a bridge connecting Sicily to the mainland at Calabria. Unfortunately, it is prime minister Silvio Berlusconi who really aims to build it. I hope it never happens and that Sicily remains an island.
Camuto: In 2008, I was preparing for the release of my first book, Corkscrewed, about the eccentric stalwart winemakers in France, and coming up on my 50th Birthday, I had one of those moments where one says, "If I had one more year on this earth, what would I do?" and the answer came to me naturally--"Go to Sicily."
Why did you choose to write about Sicily and not, say, Calabria or Puglia? What is it about Sicily that's so alluring in your mind?
I love so much of Italy, but Sicily is to me one of the grandest parts. It is not so much an island as a "continente": Etna spewing, the vast interior, the traces of thousands of years of civilization. I also think that Sicilian cuisine--or cuisines rather--are among the most developed in Italy. It is also Italy's largest wine producing region--in terms of volume, but there is now a booming scene toward quality. There is also more wine diversity than you find in most other regions.
Can you tell us about the architecture of your book? It's divided into seasons, why did you feel that was important? Does the word "Odyssey" in your title intentionally echo the great epic poem by Homer?
Indeed the book is divided by seasons and geography. Seasons are important because the world of wine, agriculture, and traditional cuisines are all tied to the land and the seasons--so I knew I had to live them to all to write Palmento. I chose the word "odyssey" because to me there is something epic about Sicily itself and because my time spent in Sicily was life-changing.
What are the names of some great Sicilian wines? Great Sicilian grapes?
Certainly Nero D'Avola is the best known--for producing big hearty reds mostly from the southeastern part of the island. I love the wines from Sicily's only DOCG Cerasuolo di Vittoria, which blend Nero d'Avola with the light cherry-colored wine from Frappato grapes. The most exciting wine area in Sicily is Mt. Etna where the plots are small and there are lots of producers feeding off one another. There, the king of the mountain is Nerello Mascalese grown at an altitude that produces beautiful, elegant reds. On Etna Caricante makes some lovely whites that get better with time.
Sicily's history is, of course, a complex one. What can you tell us, in brief, about its wine-making history?
Sicily has produced wine forever. For centuries its wines were shipped north to fortify the wines of northern Italy and France. Its most valued period was the nineteenth century. The post-war years were years of industrialization--quantity over quality. Now in the new generations there is an exciting rediscovery of quality and tradition.
Where do you see the Sicilian wine-making industry going in ten years, at least in the near future?
I am not a prognosticator. But my hope is that Sicily cultivates its local independent small producers and that they flourish. My fear is that Sicily would become another Australia--producing mostly corporate International Cabernet and Chardonnay wines without much personality.
On the cover of your book is a very unique image to Sicily, what can you tell us about it?
The trinacria is an ancient symbol thought to be of Greek origin (the Greeks being the first in a long line of colonizers of the island). The three legs represent the three points of the island. There is debate over whether the face represents Medusa or Apollo. Curiously a similar three-legged theme is found in northern Celtic areas of Europe such as the Isle of Man.
Now to you, I see you have Italian roots. Sicilian?
My father's father was born in Sicily (Bronte on Mount Etna) and died young after immigrating to New York in the 1930s. My mother's side is all from Vico Equense near Sorrento on the Italian mainland.
When did you discover your passion for writing?
When I was 15 and inspired by Jack Kerouac's On the Road. I have been on the road ever since.
To close, what's one especially unusual fact about Sicily you could share?
It was Julius Caesar who first conceived the idea of a bridge connecting Sicily to the mainland at Calabria. Unfortunately, it is prime minister Silvio Berlusconi who really aims to build it. I hope it never happens and that Sicily remains an island.
Click to go to RobertCamuto.net
Central Sicily
The Mediterranean's Largest Island
Not bad, right?
Trinicria
"From the craggy vineyards of Mount Etna to the tiny moscato-producing island of Pantelleria, and from every angle of its wine hierarchy, Mr. Camuto extracts fascinating and illuminating details about Sicily, bringing to life the characters, conflicts and family dynamics that define a culture and its wines. It’s a beautiful, enthralling work, eternally wistful and hopeful, much like Sicily itself."--Eric Asimov, New York Times
Book description: "Inspired by a deep passion for wine, an Italian heritage, and a desire for a land somewhat wilder than his home in southern France, Robert V. Camuto set out to explore Sicily’s emerging wine scene. What he discovered during more than a year of traveling the region, however, was far more than a fascinating wine frontier. Chronicling his journey through Palermo to Marsala, across the rugged interior of Sicily to the heights of Mount Etna, Camuto captures the personalities and flavors and the traditions and natural riches that have made Italy’s largest and oldest wine region the world traveler’s newest discovery. In the island’s vastly different wines he finds an expression of humanity and nature—and the space where the two merge into something more. Here, amid the wild landscapes, lavish markets, dramatic religious rituals, deliciously contrasting flavors, and astonishing natural warmth of its people, Camuto portrays Sicily at a shining moment in history. He takes readers into the anti-Mafia movement growing in the former mob vineyards around infamous Corleone; tells the stories of some of the island’s most prominent landowning families; and introduces us to film and music celebrities and other foreigners drawn to Sicily’s vineyards. His book takes wine as a powerful metaphor for the independent identity of this mythic land, which has thrown off its legacies of violence, corruption, and poverty to emerge, finally free, with its great soul intact."