Vino di Anna - Palmento Bianco, Sicily, Italy (2022)

Grapefruit and lemon with floral notes. The palate is dry, crisp and flinty with firm acidity. Citrus flavours are coupled with some white peach and a delicate nuttiness. The wine is light bodied yet flavoursome with an appealing sapid, mineral finish.

Palmento Bianco 2022 is made of 50% Carricante grown in the contrada Crasa, under the village of Solicchiata. Half the grapes were macerated on skins for 5 days and then pressed into a chestnut cask. The rest was direct pressed into stainless steel.

20% is Grillo, organically grown on the “terra rossa” soils of Marsala, rich in minerals. This fruit was macerated for one week on skins then fermented in stainless steel.

20% is Inzolia, organically grown on limestone clay soils in Vittoria, south of the island. These grapes were direct pressed and fermented in stainless steel.

The remaining 10% is a field blend of Catarratto and Grecanico grown in contrada Allegracore also fermented in a chestnut cask.

Each of the grape varieties were fermented by indigenous yeasts to dryness, underwent malolactic fermentation and were then blended together at the end of October. The finished wine remained on light lees and was bottled in mid- February 2023 without fining or filtration.

Anna has been involved in making wine for over thirty years. Originally from Adelaide, South Australia, she is formally trained as an oenologist. However, a chance meeting with her now husband, Eric Narioo (Managing Director of the UK's top natural wine importer, Les Caves de Pyrene in 2004, set her on a different path from making Super Tuscans.

The fascination and relatively unknown terraces of Mt Etna caught their attention and in 2008, their first wine “Vino di Anna Rosso” was made.

The soils of their home base are black, decomposed lava (volcanic), except around Linguaglossa, where they are bright red and full of iron. The mineral content is very high giving the wines a noticeable sapidity. Wines are made with minimal intervention, natural yeasts, no additives, no fining or filtering and little or no SO2.