Sicilian Winery to Open Island Resort

Tasca d'Almerita, which has been producing wine in central Sicily for seven generations, is creating a wine-tourism resort on a nearby Mediterranean island. The winery has invested about $1.5 million to buy and renovate a 17-acre estate on Salina, one of the Aeolian isles off the northeast coast of Sicily.

Capofaro Wine and Resort, perched on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, is set amid nearly 15 acres of Malvasia vines. The vineyard will provide grapes for the production of around 415 cases of Malvasia delle Lipari DOC, a sweet wine.

"We bought the island estate to make the wine, but we're going to use it for tourism as well," said Alberto Tasca, commercial director of Tasca d'Almerita. "We think we can promote the wine by bringing people to the area where it is conceived."

The Tasca family hopes that the initiative will elevate the status of Malvasia delle Lipari to match that of Moscato di Pantelleria, a perhaps better-known sweet wine produced on the island of Pantelleria, off the southwest coast of Sicily.

The new resort will offer accommodations for 20 guests; seven newly refurbished, traditionally styled houses can accommodate between two and four people each. Capofaro will also contain a swimming pool, a health-and-beauty center, tennis courts and a restaurant offering typical Mediterranean fare. The emphasis will be on locally caught fish and traditional island favorites, such as fresh-fruit-flavored ices. The wine list will focus on local bottlings, but will also include wines from the rest of Italy.

Tasca d'Almerita hopes to open the resort to the public by the end of 2003.

For more information, contact:
E-mail: info@tascadalmerita.it
Fax: 011-39-091-42-67-03