Ep 531: Sicily’s Best Little-Known Winery - Dei Principi di Spadafora with Enrica Spadafora

Wine for Normal People

Alcohol, Lifestyle, Arts, Education, Food, Wine, Dining, Grapes

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2024

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For more than 30 years, dei Principi di Spadafora has been quietly churning out some of Sicily’s best wines in a tiny enclave of Virzì, about 35 miles southwest of Palermo, on Sicily’s west coast.

Photo: Francesco and Enrica Spadafora. Courtesy of dei Principi di Spadafora

The Spadafora family has been in Sicily since 1230, and their family came from noble roots but dei Principi di Spadafora (Princes of Spadafora) vineyards and winery didn’t really start until the late 1980s, when Francesco Spadafora decided to concentrate full time on growing grapes and making wine from a family property that had previously been designated only for bulk production. Since then, the organically farmed property and minimalist winemaking facilities have churned out spectacular, estate-grown wine, with Francesco at the helm. His daughter, Enrica, joined her father several years ago, doing the hard work of selling and marketing these very special wines from a remote part of Sicily.

Photo: The glorious Principe G Grillo with Francesco's gourmet creation. Credit: Wine For Normal People

I had the opportunity to meet Enrica and Francesco when I was with the Patron group in Sicily in May. I welcome Enrica (her father does not speak enough English to do a podcast!) to discuss the storied history, how her father left the life of an aristocrat to become a farmer and winemaker, and how they are able to make such outstanding wines (the Grillo and Nero d'Avola especially are magic!)

Check them out at spadafora.com

Enjoy!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Wine for Normal People, the Podcasts for People who like Wine for Normal People,
0:09.8	the podcast for people who like wine, but not the snobbery that goes with it.
0:13.2	I'm your host Elizabeth Schneider author of the Wine for Normal People Book and
0:19.2	certified wine dork. This week's show is made possible by my exclusive sponsor Wine Access.
0:26.7	If you haven't checked out the site yet and seen their selection of wines
0:31.1	curated from around the world including Sicily. of wines
0:34.2	Curated from around the world including Sicily which is what this podcast is on go to wine access
0:38.2	Dot com slash W. F.M.P get into the site with my special URL and if you want to join my wine club, go to
0:44.8	Wine Access.com slash normal and listen in the middle of the show for more details.
0:49.7	For more than 30 years, the Prince P. de Spadafora has been quietly churning out some of Sicily's best wines and a tiny enclave
0:59.5	of Versi, about 35 miles southwest of Palermo on Sicily's west coast.
1:05.2	The Spadaforra family has been in Sicily since 1230 at least and their family came from
1:10.8	noble routes.
1:11.6	They held a dukedom to Marcisatz, a shire, 25 baronies.
1:17.2	Some of the members of the family had prestigious offices
1:20.3	during the Reno-D.
1:22.0	Cicilia and in some European countries it's quite a pedigree but the
1:26.3	day Prince Chippi the Spatophora, Princess of Spatophora vineyards and winery didn't really
1:31.3	start until the late 1980s when Francesco Spara
1:35.1	decided to concentrate full-time on growing grapes and making wine from a
1:40.5	family property that had previously been designated only for bulk production and since then
1:46.5	the organically farmed property and minimalist winemaking have churned out spectacular estate-grown wines with Francesco at the helm.
	...

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