Benanti Contrada Cavaliere Bianco 2017
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
This has a delicate nose evoking white stone fruit, Spanish broom and Mediterranean scrub. The polished, medium-bodied palate boasts tension and understated finesse, offering yellow apple, ripe pear and tangy saline alongside an oyster shell note. It's nicely balanced, with bright acidity.
-
Wine Spectator
Tangy, saline-laced minerality and sleek acidity drive this light- to medium-bodied white, framing the well-meshed flavors of crunchy white peach, elderflower, melon rind and lemon pith. Elegant, with a lingering, creamy finish. Drink now through 2025.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Here is a new wine from the Benanti estate headquartered in Viagrande, or the side of Etna just north of Catania. Brothers Antonio and Salvino Benanti have recently revisited their holdings on Etna, selling some parcels and gaining access to fruit from other areas. The idea is to create a Benanti portfolio that represents multiple single-vineyard expressions from a larger range of vineyards located on the northern side of Etna (in Castiglione di Sicilia), the eastern flank of the volcano in Milo, and now in both the southwest and southeast quadrants of Etna. Officially unveiled just a few months ago, the 2017 Etna Bianco Contrada Cavaliere is the latest single-vineyard wine to join the portfolio. The Contrada Cavaliere is located in Santa Maria di Licodia, on the less-traveled southwest side of the volcano. Compared to Carricante from the northern side (that tends to get less rain and more diurnal temperature shifts), this wine is slightly more relaxed and horizontal in terms of its aromatic delivery. The wine offers a clean but also somewhat subdued expression of a grape that is fundamentally neutral but also extremely precise in terms of its aromatic offerings. This hot vintage feels very smooth and silky ultimately, delivering preserved lemon, apricot and tangy tropical fruit. You feel that natural structure at the back.
Other Vintages
2021-
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling
-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator
-
James
Suckling
At the end of the 1800’s, Giuseppe Benanti, grandfather of Dr. Giuseppe Benanti, began the production of wines on one of his father’s old farms on the slopes of Mount Etna, at Viagrande (Catania). In 1988, Giuseppe Benanti revived the family’s old passion, with an extensive and selective study of the Etnean soils highly devoted to viticulture. He also investigated particular clones of indigenous vines and new oenological techniques to reproduce ancient fragrances using the most modern practices of vinification, in a perfect union of history and reality. From this five year study, wines of unique taste were produced recreating old flavors and keeping them intact over time.
Our wines have a strong personality and carry the culture and passion for wine of the Benanti family, always driven by respect for the places, terroir and old 'palmenti'. This passion, after revealing the marvels of the Etnean territory, has guided them to Pantelleria and then Pachino. Today the company, also run by Giuseppe Benanti’s sons, Antonio and Salvino, is placed in a market range of high quality level products and the request for its wines is strongly increasing. This is mainly due to the quality of its wines, known throughout Italy and abroad, and attested by many awards given annually by the most important national and international competitions.
Carricante has grown on the slopes of Sicily’s Mt. Etna for the last thousand years. It is the dominant grape in Etna Bianco DOC blends, with Catarratto as a possible minor blending partner. The best examples come from volcanic soils at higher altitudes where a large diurnal temperature shift allows slow and steady ripening and the development of Carricante’s naturally high acidity. Somm Secret—A vine variety capable of high yields if not tended to properly, Carricante gets its name from, carica, the Italian word for “load.”
A large, geographically and climatically diverse island, just off the toe of Italy, Sicily has long been recognized for its fortified Marsala wines. But it is also a wonderful source of diverse, high quality red and white wines. Steadily increasing in popularity over the past few decades, Italy’s fourth largest wine-producing region is finally receiving the accolades it deserves and shining in today's global market.
Though most think of the climate here as simply hot and dry, variations on this sun-drenched island range from cool Mediterranean along the coastlines to more extreme in its inland zones. Of particular note are the various microclimates of Europe's largest volcano, Mount Etna, where vineyards grow on drastically steep hillsides and varying aspects to the Ionian Sea. The more noteworthy red and white Sicilian wines that come from the volcanic soils of Mount Etna include Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio (reds) and Carricante (whites). All share a racy streak of minerality and, at their best, bear resemblance to their respective red and white Burgundies.
Nero d’Avola is the most widely planted red variety, and is great either as single varietal bottling or in blends with other indigenous varieties or even with international ones. For example, Nero d'Avola is blended with the lighter and floral, Frappato grape, to create the elegant, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, one of the more traditional and respected Sicilian wines of the island.
Grillo and Inzolia, the grapes of Marsala, are also used to produce aromatic, crisp dry Sicilian white. Pantelleria, a subtropical island belonging to the province of Sicily, specializes in Moscato di Pantelleria, made from the variety locally known as Zibibbo.