Marsala: Historic winery tour with wine tasting

About This Experience

Cantine Mothia is a family-run winery in a restored nineteenth-century baglio, the walled Sicilian farm courtyard, between Marsala's old town and the salt pans that face the island of Mothia. The visit is led by one of the owners, usually the founder's daughter, and it costs a fraction of what most winery tours charge.

You start in the inner courtyard, where the marble paving still carries the ruts of the grape wagons, then move through the winemaking and aging halls of steel tanks and oak casks. The last stop before the tasting is the old cooperage, where the story of Marsala wine is told among the barrels.

The tasting room pours four of the estate's own wines: a white, a red, a sweet wine and a Marsala, matched with small plates of seasoned olives, sun-dried tomatoes, pizza rianata and sesame biscuits. The wines are made from native grapes and are not sold through supermarkets, so the shop at the end is the only easy place to buy them.

It lasts about an hour, runs in Italian and English, and you get yourself there: the winery is a short drive from the town centre. Guests mention the warmth of the family welcome more than anything else, and several say they left with a case for the journey home.

Highlights

• Family-run winery in a restored nineteenth-century baglio near the Marsala salt pans
• Guided by one of the owners: courtyard, winemaking halls, oak cooperage, tasting room
• Four estate wines poured: a white, a red, a sweet wine and a Marsala
• Sicilian plates with the wines: olives, sun-dried tomatoes, pizza rianata, sesame biscuits
• Native grapes and wines that are not in large-scale distribution; a shop on site

What's Included

• ✓ Guided tour by a member of the owning family
• ✓ Tasting of 4 estate wines (white, red, sweet, Marsala)
• ✓ Small plates of typical Sicilian products
• ✓ Tasting in personalised glasses

Not Included

• Transport to the winery
• Glasses and tasting ware, which stay at the winery

Good to Know & Caveats

• Allow about an hour for the visit and tasting.
• You get yourself to the winery; it is a short drive from central Marsala, signposted from the roundabout on Via Giovanni Falcone.
• The tour runs in Italian and English; several reviewers took it in English with the founder's daughter.
• Summer afternoons are hot in the courtyard; mornings are more comfortable.
• Bottles can be bought at the end, and guests often do.

Meeting Point

Cantine Mothia, Via Giovanni Falcone Magistrato 22, Marsala; follow the signs just after the roundabout when coming from the centre.