Winemaker Notes
Straw yellow with green shades. On the nose there is graphite, orange zest, mango, broom, aromatic herbs. The palate has vertical minerality, high acidity, lemon peel, tropical fruit. Candied entry with buttery notes and a savory and marine finish, saltiness.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Loads of white-pepper, lemon-curd and light banana aromas follow through to a full-bodied yet very bright and vivid palate with lemony acidity and a flavorful finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Etna Bianco Carricante A' Puddara is a terrific wine with lots of territory-driven character. This is a lean white wine that shows enough volume and texture to be considered a mid-weight wine to pair with shellfish or more sophisticated seafood dishes. The bouquet offers a lot of fragrant intensity with preserved lemon, white peach and crushed volcanic rock. Some 10,000 bottles were produced. Fruit is sourced from pre-phylloxera vines planted 940 meters above sea level.
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Wine & Spirits
This wine is from a five-acre plot of carricante vines planted in 1950 in the Biancavilla area, at nearly 3,000 feet of elevation. The cool temperatures at this altitude helped to capture the variety’s delicate scents of citrus and green herbs, while aging the wine in 3,500- liter oak barrels on the lees for six months softened its flinty minerality and concentrated its flavors. It’s rich and creamy, with notes of white peach, preserved lemon and buttered toast, built to cellar for a couple of years, and pair with a rich pork-shoulder ragù.
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Wine Spectator
n aromatic white, with an overtone of floral and spice accenting the flavors of cherry granita, peach skin, grated ginger and basil. Light-bodied and lithe, fresh and expressive, delivering a lingering, stony finish. Drink now through 2022.
There are hundreds of white grape varieties grown throughout the world. Some are indigenous specialties capable of producing excellent single varietal wines. Each has its own distinct viticultural characteristics, as well as aroma and flavor profiles.
A large, geographically and climatically diverse island, just off the toe of Italy, Sicily has long been recognized for its fortified Marsala wines. But it is also a wonderful source of diverse, high quality red and white wines. Steadily increasing in popularity over the past few decades, Italy’s fourth largest wine-producing region is finally receiving the accolades it deserves and shining in today's global market.
Though most think of the climate here as simply hot and dry, variations on this sun-drenched island range from cool Mediterranean along the coastlines to more extreme in its inland zones. Of particular note are the various microclimates of Europe's largest volcano, Mount Etna, where vineyards grow on drastically steep hillsides and varying aspects to the Ionian Sea. The more noteworthy red and white Sicilian wines that come from the volcanic soils of Mount Etna include Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio (reds) and Carricante (whites). All share a racy streak of minerality and, at their best, bear resemblance to their respective red and white Burgundies.
Nero d’Avola is the most widely planted red variety, and is great either as single varietal bottling or in blends with other indigenous varieties or even with international ones. For example, Nero d'Avola is blended with the lighter and floral, Frappato grape, to create the elegant, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, one of the more traditional and respected Sicilian wines of the island.
Grillo and Inzolia, the grapes of Marsala, are also used to produce aromatic, crisp dry Sicilian white. Pantelleria, a subtropical island belonging to the province of Sicily, specializes in Moscato di Pantelleria, made from the variety locally known as Zibibbo.