'Donna Fugata' means fleeing woman in Italian, and is said to be inspired from the story of Bourbon King Ferdinand IV's wife Queen Maria Carolina, who had to leave her palace and flee from Napoleon in the early 1800s. Each bottle of Donnafugata wine depicts an image of a woman with windswept hair, portraying the queen.

Of course, that's not the only reason why Donnafugata is a well known name in Italy. Many of their wines have won acclaim over the years, including their famous sweet wine Ben Rye, the Passito from Pantelleria made of 100% Zibbibo grapes, which has won several awards.

Guests on the evening began their meal with salmon and scallop carpaccio with salmon roe and mustard crest with the Donnafugata Anthilla IGT Sicilia 2008, a pleasing white wine with floral notes. This was followed by an interesting Sicilian broth with cherry tomato and olives with the Donnafugata La Fuga DOC 2008, an elegant, well-balanced Chardonnay. The next course, goat cheese and chive stuffed mezzelune with morrel and porcini cream/crab stuffed mezzelune was followed by the Donnafugata Sedara Sicilia DOC 2007 (100% Nero d'Avola) a garnet red coloured wine with notes of blackberries, cherries and spices. This paired very well with the main course of herb braised lamb, madras onion and pepperonata with garlic confit and cream. The finale was traditional Sicilian cannoli paired with the iconic Ben Rye 2006, with its amber colour and flavour of apricots and peaches leading to a long finish. A perfect ending to the meal.

Giulia Lazzarini of Donnafugata was present to introduce the wines course by course, even as the guests enjoyed the leisurely evening of excellent food created by Executive Chef Rajiv Vimal. Each guest received a gift of a music CD by Jose Rallo, a member of the Donnafugata family and a famous singer, as they left.
Right: Ms. Giulia Lazzarini & Mr. Subrata Majumder, Area General manager, The Park