Winemaker Notes
Yellow with strong hints of green. On the nose the aromas are strong and typical, with notes of green apple. Dry, savory, and persistent, with pleasant acidity
Excellent with fish dishes.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lovely aromas of lemon peel, chamomile tea and fresh herbs. Medium-bodied with a lot of subtlety and nuance. The palate begins soft and gentle, but the acidity blooms and adds color and energy. The finish is exciting and fresh. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Gulfi 2021 Carjcanti has an oily side with apricot and poached pear followed by light hints of crushed stone and flint. The wine is meaty and fleshy with lots of fiber and volume on the mid-palate. It closes with apple and white fruits (and light spice). This is a bigger more elaborate expression of Carricante.
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Vinous
The 2021 Carjcanti entices with an array of honeyed flowers, almond paste and freshly sliced pears. Savory yet elegant, it envelops the palate with silken textures and glycerol depths of yellow apple and nectarine. Saline tension and a lovely inner sweetness linger as the 2021 reveals its contrasting nature through a long, youthfully tense finale.
Carricante has grown on the slopes of Sicily’s Mt. Etna for the last thousand years. It is the dominant grape in Etna Bianco DOC blends, with Catarratto as a possible minor blending partner. The best examples come from volcanic soils at higher altitudes where a large diurnal temperature shift allows slow and steady ripening and the development of Carricante’s naturally high acidity. Somm Secret—A vine variety capable of high yields if not tended to properly, Carricante gets its name from, carica, the Italian word for “load.”
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.