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Dinner at Ristorante Caravanserraglio |
After COS, we drove about 15 minutes to visit Occhipinti, which is also in Vittoria. Occhipinti was started by a young winemaker, Arianna Occhipinti, who is also a niece of Giusto Occhipinti, one of the founders of COS.
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Occhipinti is relatively a new winery. Its first vintage was 2004. They have about 20 ha vineyards now.
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After a tour of the winery and vineyards, we tasted a couple of their wines.
2012 SP68 (fermented and aged only in inox. Nero d'Avola 30% and Frappato 70%)
2011 Siccagno, Nero d'Avola (4 months maceration and 15 months in Slovenian oak)
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Once we left the town of Vittoria, we drove to Ragusa, where we were going to spend a night. It's another very historic town with the magnificent view of the valley.
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Our hotel was also a very historic building in the old downtown of Ragusa.
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Each person got a suite. I even had a kitchen/ dining room and upstairs bedroom! So pretty.
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Dinner was at a popular local restaurant, Ristorante Caravanserraglio. We started with a wood-fired oven baked carzone-style rolled pizza. It was stuffed with tomato, cheese, etc. So tasty.
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Sashimi-style (thick) tuna carpaccio was nicely fatty. I loved the involtini (rolled) style baked belt fish with breadcrumbs. The fish was so tender. It was followed by pasta with tuna and Etna mushrooms.
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Secondi were roasted aguglia imperiale fish (similar to swordfish), and charcoal grilled lamb. Lamb was so packed with natural flavors and cooked perfectly.
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Cheese course and dessert (cow ricotta).
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Wines were very good also.
2012 Centopassi, Catarrato, "Terre Siciliane" IGT (from Palermo)
2012 Valle Dell'Acate, "Il Frappato" Vittoria Frappato DOC
2004 Mazzeri, "Zisola" (from Noto)
I enjoyed both the food and Ragusa-style hospitality.