In Milan at an outdoor cafe on my first trip to Italy in October 2022, we were quite surprised to find spritz was served with snacks, specifically, large green olives and potato chips! I looked around and saw everyone had them and that this is standard. Just like chips and salsa is expected in a Mexican food restaurant in California, so are small bowls with snacks common in Italy when you order a spritz, sparkling, or white wine in the afternoon during what we might think of as “happy hour” — that time in the day when lunch has worn off and it is too early for dinner, especially in Italy where it is more common to eat after dark and in the cool of the evening around 830 or 9pm.

During my second press trip to Italy in June 2023, it was hot and apertivo was just what we needed to tide us over on several days — in Venice, Verona, and Rome! Below, three US wine writers enjoying spritz — no snacks because I think it was too early. 

Later with a bottle of BiancaVigna Prosecco DOCG during a Veneto press trip, the snacks came in a jar which you cna see on two tables:

In Roma, why not do apertivo on a roof top bar with a view of the Coliseum? If you want more substantial appetizers, there’s plenty to order. A favorite for me is cheese stuffed zucchini flowers  — with anchovies!  

Once again in Rome in May 2024 (thanks to a press trip sponsored by SiciliaDOC!), my friend Fabio Antonelli took me on a cultural food and wine tour on my final day of my three week trip. We took a bus from the Coppede District where he lives (and where we explored that morning) to the end of the line where Fabio Antonelli led me from the hospital on the tiny Tiburina Island by the bridge of four heads through the Jewish Ghetto where in ww2 over 1k Jews were rounded up and taken away with only 6 returning. There we sampled a very rich chocolate pastry from the famous Pâtisserie Boccione and walked by numerous kosher restaurants. 

From there we moved to wine: first at a place founded over 150 years ago –Buccone Enoteca Via Di Ripetta where we had a sparkling Durella — and snacks! The second shop Trimani Vinai in Roma is over 200 years old; we had an organic trebbiano from Abruzzo with olives, taralli and these beans which you peel with your teeth. Both places are absolutely worth a visit next time you’re in Rome and offer far beyond your typical spritz. 

But you don’t have to travel to Rome to do an Italian style apertivo! Just got some of your favorite salty snacks in small bowls and open a crisp cold Italian wine like this Grillo from Sicily! Thanks to Sicily DOC for this recent trip and inspiration; lots more to come so please subscribe! 

Sicily DOC Wine 

• Cantine Ermes “Vento di Mare” Grillo
• learn more about Sicily’s native grapes and the project designed to save them

Italian Style Apertivo Menu 

• Taralli — many recipes are available online or you can order online or find at specialty markets
  with fennel purchased at the Cantine Solapaca Store made by a member 
  with olive oil purchased at Eataly, Rome Airport FCO
• Castelvetrano Olives
  purchased at Sprouts in the US (I left the ones I bought in Italy in a fridge!)
• Truffle Salami
  purchased at Eataly, Rome Airport FCO  
• 60 Month Aged Parmesan 
  purchased at Eataly, Rome Airport FCO
• other typical Sicilian appetizers that would go great with this wine include panelle and arancini

Cantine Ermes “Vento di Mare” Sicilia DOC

ABV: 12.5
SRP: $12 
Grapes: organic grillo
Importer: Cantine Ermes 

While I wasn’t introduced to Cantine Ermes on my recent trip to Sicily, I did visit two other coops in Campania the following week and learned a lot first hand about he important role that coops have in Italian wine, and we did meet with one coop (along with over 20 other producers each bringing two wines!) one evening in Palermo but I don’t think Cantine Ermes was one of them.

Cantine Ermes Società Cooperativa Agricola is a multi-regional in Italy but began in Sicily, July 1998 in an area severely affected by the 1968 earthquake. Today, Cantine Ermes has 2,215 members and 11,544 hectares of vineyards in Sicily Puglia, Abruzzo, Emilia Romagna and Veneto.

The name Vento di Mare refers to the wind and the sea; thanks to the almost constant wind blowing from the sea to the hills where the grapes grow, it never gets too hot and disease pressure is low allowing them to grow organically.  Check out the range of organic wines here.

Note: Grillo means cricket in Italian. Unlike Spanish where a double L becomes a y sound, Grillo is pronounced with both Ls. Both languages have s slight roll to the “r’ in this word.

Appearance:  Lemon yellow, platinum rim 

Aroma: chamomile, meadow, rose geranium, fennel, creekside, minerals

Palate: tart acidic lemon, lime, chamomile, fennel fronds on the bitter herbal finish, sea salt salinity, iron; this is a cool you off and wake you up, uncomplicated but food please kind of wine 

Pairing: refreshing with the truffle salami, but better with the calabrese as it loves the spiciness, making us think about pairing it with shrimp al diablo; it would be so great with seafood in general. Fabulous with the parm as it brings out herbal elements and fruit in the wine, with each really enhancing the other. Fennel tarali sings with the wine. Consider any dish with a few red pepper flakes!

This month the Wine Pairing weekend group of wine writers hosted by Wendy Klik pair wines with “junk” food — but as you can see below, there’s a range of options to consider:

• Here on Wine Predator: Fresh from My Trip to Italy, It’s Time for Italian Style Apertivo with Organic Grillo from Cantine Ermes “Vento di Mare” Sicilia DOC 
• Crushed Grape Chronicles shares Asti Spumante and reminiscing with junk food  
• Culinary Cam is Elevating Mac’n’Cheese: Truffled Pasta + 2023 iLauri ‘Chiola’ Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo Rosato / Culinary Cam
• A Day in the Life on the Farm enjoys Altos de la Guardia Rioja paired with Taco Ticos

But if you’re really looking for what I’d consider junk food– aka candy– try this pairing:

• Halloween Candy and Harvey’s Cream Sherry

And if you really want that glass of Chardonnay, and something to snack on, try potato chips!