Palermo Tasting and Wine Tour of Western Sicily
Loris Scagliarini –– Published - May 31, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011 – Arrival in Palermo
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We arrive at Palermo international airport from Bologna around 6:30pm. By the time the taxi sent to pick us up by the Istituto Regionale della del Vite e Vino (IRVV or, Regional Institute of the Vine and the Wine) delivers us at the Grand Hotel Piazza Borsa, in the ancient centro storico (historic center, or downtown) of the Sicilian capital city it is already 20 minutes past 7. The hotel, formerly a convent, then a bank and lately reinvented as an upscale business and tourist hotel, has been recently remodeled with great taste and thoughtful touches of formal elegance.
Grand Hotel Piazza Borsa, Palermo
At the reception we find a welcome note by Michele Shah, the indefatigable de facto organizer of the event, who invites us to a meeting at 7:30pm in the gorgeous cloister of the Grand Hotel Piazza Borsa. There we will be introduced to the activities of the Istituto Regionale della Vite e del Vino and meet the other invited guests: wine importers, distributors, and trade journalists, also recently arrived from the US and Canada . We freshen up quickly and join the party.
From our small terrace at the Grand Hotel Piazza Borsa, Palermo After the introductory briefing, which presents the 22 DOC and the one DOCG wine production areas of Sicily to the foreign guests, we are left to mingle and network among peers. In the meantime we enjoy a delightful selection of regional finger food and entrees, which are washed down liberally with some of the excellent white and red wines produced in this regional island which a Sicilian friends has defined "the northernmost part of Africa."
Brigit on our small terrace at the Grand Hotel Piazza Borsa, Palermo All guests are fairly tired, as many have just arrived from the US or Canada after long trips including two to four connecting flights. Thus, at around 10pm the crowd starts to disperse and heads up their respective rooms for a deserved good night's sleep.
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