From: Sicily, Italy
Varietals: 60% Grillo, 40% Catarratto
Tasting Notes: Bright and fragrant aromas of lemon peel citrus, whispers of tropical fruit, and white flowers lead to brisk flavors of crisp apple and pineapple, flavorful hints of herbs (bay leaf, mint), mandarin orange, and a flinty, saline minerality. These aromas and flavors wind their way to a lifted, lemon-zested finish that shows off persistent minerality and that distinct almond note we love about many Italian whites.
Pairing: This quintessentially Mediterranean wine will pair beautifully with the freshest PNW spring and summer produce and seafood. It would go great with the following Sicilian-inspired dishes: tuna and caper salad, sautéed prawns with garlic, chili, and lemongrass, tuna salad with capers, lemon chicken, Sicilian eggplant Caponata, or an orange-fennel-chicory salad with a fresh lemon vinaigrette. Salads, rice dishes, pasta, flatbreads, or any pairing that comes to mind will succeed when the dish features fresh produce and flavors, with extra points for Mediterranean herbs (check out the recipe below!).
Creamy Lemon Zucchini Pasta
By Sarah Jampel
About. Many thanks to our friends at Oliver McCrum Wines for importing these wines and providing the following info! Western Sicily grows a lot of OK wine, but the wines from Centopassi are different. They come from various vineyards in the high Belice Corleonese, a plateau at over 500 meters (1800 feet) above sea level, near the town of Corleone, south of Palermo. The soils are clay of various kinds, at an altitude that gives cool nights and fresh acidity at harvest; the vineyards are cultivated organically; the varieties are indigenous to Sicily, which is to say adapted to the conditions found here; the winemaking allows the native character of the fruit to shine and is not at all intrusive, and the results range from excellent everyday drinking (Giato Rosso and Bianco) to the best Sicilian single-vineyard wines I’ve had outside of Etna. The whites are particularly striking, vivid, and mouthwatering, but the whole range is consistently excellent.
That’s the vinous story, but there is another side to this estate. ‘I Cento Passi,’ the Hundred Steps, is an anti-Mafia film made in 2000, and Centopassi wines are grown in vineyards confiscated from convicted Mafiosi, some of them notorious (such as Salvatore ’Toto’ Riina). In other words, the mere existence of this estate is a renunciation of the Mafia, and of the terrible effect that the Mafia has had on the people of Sicily for generations. We are proud to support Centopassi and Libera Terra, the organization behind it.
Harvest at Centopassi usually takes place at the end of August through September, depending on the variety. The white wines are fermented with neutral selected yeasts, while indigenous yeasts are used for the reds.
This wine. Centopassi’s grapes come from various vineyards in the high Belice Corleonese Plateau, near Corleone, south of Palermo. ‘Giato’ is the area around the ancient Greek theatre on Mount Jato. The Giato Bianco is a blend of 60% Grillo and 40% Catarratto from the Giabbascio, Pietralunga, and Verzanica vineyards, which sit between 300 and 550 feet above sea level.
