The Night of San Lorenzo under the sign of premium wine
Every falling star is worth a wish and on August 10, the Night of San Lorenzo, the best wishes can be made while sipping a glass of fine wine. This is the night of Goblets of Stars - the event promoted by the Wine Tourism Movement - now in its ninth edition at the Donnafugata estate.
After a fine time spent sunbathing and swimming, lovers of fine wine can crown their sunny Sicilian day in the moonlight in the western heart of the island, at precisely km 60 along the Palermo-Sciacca S.S. 624 highway.
Donnafugata Goblets of Stars is an eagerly-awaited event and, as in recent years, it will be attracting more than a thousand people from all over Italy and even abroad. There will be something for everyone: for all the wine-lovers, for curiosity-seekers coming for the first time, for children, who together with their parents will discover the secrets of the countryside in a magical setting, perhaps sampling the very sweet, nearly ripe Chardonnay grapes.
A unique and thrilling experience, where wine combines with extreme quality themes, from protecting the environment to socio-economic development. And the evening's setting is a dream: the Donnafugata estate in the Contessa Entellina countryside, symbol of the winery's commitment to quality and also its nerve center. Places that belong to Sicilian history and identity, so much so that they inspired The Leopard, the extraordinary novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. And there must be truly something special in these lands since they continue to arouse strong feelings.
The winery tour begins with the "party-lit" vineyards of Chardonnay. Right where the grapes have been picked at night for years there will be discussion of how the vineyard is cultivated, the vines trained and pruned. The tour then goes on to the vinification cellars, where technology is used solely to fulfill the organoleptic potential of an excellent raw material, Donnafugata grapes.
Environmental protection will be another focus of the event, because Donnafugata believes in saving energy and producing clean energy through photovoltaic panels and has installed 68-kW systems at Contessa Entellina and others generating 50 kW at its historic Marsala cellars.
The tour's conclusion will be "virtual", a video of the historic Marsala cellars and the magical island of Pantelleria, birthplace of Ben Ryé raisin wine.
The evening will culminate with a wine tasting at different booths. Not one of the Donnafugata labels will be missing, not even those that for many wine-lovers are icons, such as whites Vigna di Gabri and Chiarandà, reds Tancredi and Mille e una Notte, not to mention Ben Ryé, the Italian sweet wine esteemed worldwide.
And for Donnafugata, Goblets of Stars is also an occasion to show visitors its loving ties to the land. A rapport that has led to projects like Donnafugata for the Future, which, using the microcredit tool, has helped a number of young women to fulfill their self-employment dreams. And led to the birth of the cooperative "Beyond the Commonplace", which makes fashion accessories and handbags and has begun to retail its products in several Palermo boutiques. These women will be exhibiting their products and recounting their stories at Goblets of Stars at Donnafugata, testifying to the fact that aiding socio-economic development can create concrete job and growth opportunities in Sicily, too.