2024 Cinniri Etna Bianco, Terrazze dell'Etna

• Style: Mineral-driven, saline-fresh white
• Taste: Ripe yellow stone fruit with smoky, saline undertow and taut minerality
• Food: Shellfish, grilled fish, oysters, poultry, spicy Asian dishes
• Occasion: Sunday lunch, date night, aperitivo
• Serve: Well chilled, 8–10°C
• Grape: Carricante, Catarratto

In the Glass — Tasting Notes

Pale straw yellow catches the light as layered aromas of ripe yellow stone fruit emerge alongside a saline, almost smoky undertow. The palate is taut and mineral-driven, with enough structure and grip to carry seafood without flinching. This Sicilian white reveals itself slowly — the kind that rewards curiosity.

The Winery — Cinniri, Terrazze dell'Etna

Winemaker Antonio Bevilacqua, an engineer by profession, planted on Etna's slopes in 2007 with a single ambition: crafting the finest possible wines from his native Sicily. His vineyard parcels sit on ancient lava-flow soils at 550–600 metres, where warm days and cool nights, combined with volcanic low-nitrogen earth, coax intensity from low-yielding vines. The 2024 Carricante was harvested late—mid-October—when natural acidity peaks. After brief skin contact and gentle pressing, it aged on fine lees with regular stirring for a full year before bottling. The result is a wine with real presence: 12.5% alcohol, pH 3.3, and the saline minerality that keeps you returning to the glass.

At Your Table — Food Pairing & Serving

Serve well chilled, 8–10°C. This is a wine that sings with shellfish and crustaceans—grilled bass, simply prepared white fish, even oysters—and works beautifully alongside poultry, salads, and spicy Asian cuisine. If you've encountered Carricante before and found it angular, this shows the grape's potential for harmony without sacrificing its signature identity. One of the finest examples among our Italy selection, it sits alongside the rest of our Sicily whites as a genuine expression of what volcanic terroir and patient winemaking deliver. Perfect for Sunday lunch, a date night, or an aperitivo moment.