Contrada PC 2020
ABOUT THE VINTAGE
This wine is the fruit of the experience we’ve accumulated over the years in understanding our various parcels of Chardonnay.
Year after year, implementing precision viticulture where varying maturation levels were tracked separately, we began to separate the primary material in various phases of harvest and vinification, even within the same parcel. Our Contrada PC is the result and the clear demonstration of how, even with the same variety and position, Etna provides a range of unique and diverse expressions from angle to angle. Contrada PC comes from a minute parcel of Chardonnay planted on small and laborious terraces between 870 and 950 meters, where the production is naturally limited and the maturation very particular and complex.
The summer of 2020 was moderate with rains, and generally by the bad weather; at the end of the month July the heat returned, until the rain of 10th of August and finally those of early September.
Later, after the pools of white fermented and all went to the beach with the majestic mountain under the sun, came the rain accompanied by a little hail; A wind from the north blew all night and on the first of October the expected cold fell on the cities and villages.
For nearly a month the sky remained clear and from 14th of October all red grapes began to ripen.
The first to reach the winery was Cesanese d’Affile, more sensitive to the temperatures of mid-October.
It was the 24th of October when, after several tastings in the vineyard, Petit Verdot was also matured, the grapes brought with the aromas of oriental spices and a mixture of crunchy red fruits, with the achievement of maximum balance in the mouth at the dawn of the 26th of October; where we had to call even more harvesters from neighbouring counties to ensure we did not miss the moment.
REVIEWS
Eric Guido, Vinous, 94 points: “Baked apples and pears, laced with white flowers, are complemented by hints of raw almond as the 2020 Bianco Contrada Passochianche (PC) blossoms in the glass. It’s elegant and silky in feel, with ripe melon and inner florals that cascade across the palate, as a core of minerality and hints of spice reveal themselves toward the close. The 2020 tapers offincredibly long with a bitter twang, as hints of young peach and inner herbal tones fade. The Passochianche is just a baby today, yet it’s packed full of potential. The balance here is unreal. It hails from high-elevation vines (1,000 meters) planted in deep, sandy volcanic soils. The wine spends thirty-six hours macerating on the skins, and then refines for seventeen months in neutral fifteen-hectoliter barrels. Drinking Window: 2024 – 2032”
Danielle Callegari, Wine Enthusiast, 93 points: “The nose of this Passopisciaro Sicilian cru Chardonnay impresses immediately with a sophisticated integration of savory notes against solid but reserved fruit, moving from toasted wood and rain-soaked pavement to lemon, quince and kumquat. Green and yellow apple seem to be almost baked into a pie on the palate, with lychee and other tropical flavors that may have already peeked out on the nose but are now less timid alongside pineapple and star fruit. A squeeze of acid down the middle and a bitter nuttiness at the finish tie everything together in a neat package.”
Othmar Kiem – Simon Staffler, Falstaff, 93 points
100% Chardonnay
