Cristo di Campobello makes this on the low hills of the Sicilian interior, near Campobello di Licata, from Chardonnay grown on the island's white soils. It is bottled as a Terre Siciliane, the island-wide DOC that lets a Sicilian grower work with international varieties and still put the place on the label.
- Chardonnay, grown in Sicily.
- Terre Siciliane, the island-wide DOC.
- 2023, a warm and generous Sicilian vintage.
- 13.5% ABV, medium body, dry.
- Medium acidity, low tannin.
How it is made
White wine from Chardonnay picked in Sicily, where the growing season runs long and bright. The island's coast and interior give the grape more ripeness than it finds in its native Burgundy, and the winery keeps the fruit forward rather than burying it under new oak. The result is a white with the variety's shape but a warmer accent.
How it tastes
Citrus and green apple at the front, then white peach and a soft almond note through the middle. There is a mineral edge underneath that keeps the fruit from sitting flat, and a faint vanilla-tinged base from the oak. Medium in body, dry, with enough acidity to hold it together.
Where it comes from
Sicily is Italy's largest wine region by area and one of its oldest, though for most of the twentieth century it shipped bulk wine north rather than bottling its own. Terre Siciliane was created in 2011 to give the island a single appellation for the wines growers were already making, and it now covers everything from everyday whites to serious bottlings.
Good to know
Chardonnay arrived in Sicily in the 1980s, part of a wave of international varieties planted across the south. It turned out to suit the island's warm, dry interior better than most, holding acidity in the cooler inland hills while ripening fully.
