Pietradolce, Etna Bianco

This is a stunner!

First encountered by The Allotment in a restaurant, because there wasn't anything else 'new' to choose, the wine dazzled as much as the amazing cuisine! If you're looking to impress someone with a serious but electric white wine, this is for you!

It's made from the indigenous Carricante grape variety that has similar affinity to oak as Chardonnay, while also expressing place of origin, retaining freshness and delivering delicious tropical, orchard fruit and citrus characters. There's a very pretty nose, with blossom and lemon peel, but it gets wonderfully broad with that palate, which is almost ample, with peach, citrus freshness and notes of honey. It's genuinely stunning!

The Carricante vines are grown on three separate vineyard sites at altitudes between 600 and 900 metres above sea level. Most of them are higher in altitude than the red Nerello Mascalese vines because Carricante prospers with that broad diurnal temperature swing that Sicily (especially Etna) offers from day to night temperatures.

Grapes live in volcanic soils, facing north on the side of Mount Etna are special enough, but some of these are over a century old and are even ungrafted, pre-phylloxera vines.

Very rare, producing low volume of really high-quality grapes, they are the secret to the quality in this bottle for sure.

Since the Faro family began making wine from their first-bought vineyards in 2005, the winery has grown by adding two further vineyards, to 11 hectares in total, all planted on Etna. N

ot all vines live forever, so as the older vines really do cease productivity, they are replaced by Faro using the most traditional of techniques, organic methods, bushvines and a holistic respect to their context.

This respect continues to the winery, which was built after the first vineyard was bought, and uses a plethora of concepts that root it to its position: local volcanic lava stone construction; subterranean cellars; natural insulation, minimising electricity use for cooling and many more elements, reflecting their respect for their environment.