Winemaker Notes
Grassy floral aromas are backed by sweet peach and candied almond. The mouthfeel shows extra density and an almost waxy finish. The wine is aged on fine lees for 12 months in 500 and 300 liter French oak tonneaux, during which time weekly battonage is performed. After another 8 months in bottle, the wine is ready for release.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of vanilla, jasmine, pineapple and lemon waft leisurely onto a palate where lemon and lime oscillate between sweet and tart. Denser, luxurious notes of white peach, apple, dried pineapple appear before fireworks of heat, salt and acid explode on the palate.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From the eastern side of the volcano in Sant'Alfio at 900 meters in elevation, the Monteleone 2022 Etna Bianco Anthemis (with 3,500 bottles produced) is a creamy, mid-weight white. It offers soft aromas of orchard fruit, honey and lemony pastry filling. That texture comes from 11 months of lees aging in oak. Happily, however, the wine is never too heavy. It shows zesty energy thanks to bright acidity and drying mineral notes on the long finish. Anthemis has hints of Burgundy in an otherwise heavily Etna-focused white. Rating: 94+
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James Suckling
A youthful wine with tension. Medium-bodied, this shows rice starch and candied citrus with crisp, long, malic acid and a polished finish.
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Vinous
The 2022 Etna Bianco Anthemis launches from the glass with a burst of confectionery spices and vanilla bean, giving way to freshly sliced nectarines. It's silky-smooth yet savory in style, with crisp orchard fruits offset by flinty minerals as a vivid note of raw almond forms toward the close. Youthfully tense, a sour citrus concentration saturates through the finish.
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.