Our Take: A textured, volcanic white with aromas of yellow flowers, apricot, and citrus peel layered with honeyed herbs and a subtle smoky edge. Medium-bodied and silky, it balances ripe stone fruit with bright acidity and pronounced mineral salinity, finishing long, savory, and precise.

Appellation: Etna Bianco DOC
Grapes: Carricante (90%), Cataratto, Minnella, etc. (10%)
Farming: Practicing organic
Age of vines: Planted in 1990
Altitude, Aspect & Soil Type: 640 M, E Facing, Volcanic/Sand
Typical Harvest Time: Early October
Maceration & Fermentation: 24 hours maceration, controlled low temperature fermentation in barrel with native yeasts
Aging:10 months in 225L neutral barrel, on the lees
Finishing: Filtered with coarse paper Production: 4,000 bottles annually
Importer: Ciro Biondi's family has owned vineyards on the southern side of Mt Etna since at least 1800, and first sold bottled wine under their label a century ago. The modern iteration of the Biondi winery started in 1999. Ciro (an architect by training) and his wife Stef own three vineyards near the small town of Trecastagni, and have reworked an old palmento in one of their vineyards as a winery. The Pianta vineyard has been in Ciro’s family for hundreds of years; it is on the terraced slopes of an old crater on the South side of Mt Etna. Ciro ferments in oak, then age in the oak because a byproduct of the fermentation in oak prevents the wine from picking up too much oak character. Notes of yellow flowers, apricot, and herbs — round, lush, and mineral. Beautiful with seafood or roast chicken.