Cataratto is one of those grapes that’s just too easy to work with. Its name means cateract or waterfall, referencing the vine’s prodigeous yield. Because of this, and because Cataratto grows on Sicily, an island valued for its yields in all things since antiquity, there have never been many people interested in making quality wine from it. At least, until now. Close on the heels of Etna’s renaissance, western Sicily is waking up from a century-long slumber.
     Western Sicily is something of a no-man’s land for fine wine today, but that’s a recent phenomenon. Marsala was long thought of as the finest wine in southern Italy, respected for its depth of flavor and power even before Admiral Nelson found out about it and brought a bunch of British customers along for the ride. The highlands outside Palermo were never exactly teeming with vineyards, but locals understood that there was fine wine to found there. Italy’s post World War Two economic policies heavily favored bulk wine production and large scale cooperatives, and much of western Sicily’s wine heritage simply disappeared for a few generations.