{"title":"Carricante","description":"\u003cp\u003eNative to Sicily's Mount Etna, Carricante is a high acid white grape known for minerality. It's at its best on the east slope of the volcano, showing saltiness and texture with ample acidity to age for decades.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"frank-cornelissen-munjebel-bianco-2023","title":"Frank Cornelissen “Munjebel” Bianco 2023","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSicily reads as hot-climate wine country, but Etna's northern valley gets winter snow. Cornelissen's white-grape parcels sit on the volcano's north face around Solicchiata, in the comune of Castiglione di Sicilia, on black volcanic sand and decomposed lava that drains almost instantly. At these elevations the diurnal swings hold acidity in Grecanico Dorato and Carricante deep into fall, which is why a skin-fermented white from an island off North Africa can finish with the cut of a cool-climate wine. This is farming on an active volcano: ash falls, hail strikes, and every vintage on Etna is a negotiation rather than a routine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMunjebel Bianco is a blend of Grecanico Dorato and Carricante in roughly equal parts, destemmed and given about three days of skin maceration, then fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged 16 months in neutral epoxy tanks with no oak anywhere in the process. Three days on skins builds texture without pushing into full orange-wine tannin. Ripe yellow apple, ginger, lime pith, and dried mountain herbs lead into a saline, taut palate with a light phenolic grip; the finish is wet stone and bitter citrus. 2023 was brutal here, per Cornelissen's own vintage report: May and June rain triggered downy mildew at flowering, hail followed, and the estate lost about 70 percent of its crop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrank Cornelissen is a Belgian former wine trader, son of a wine broker, who settled on Etna in 2001 when the region was still an afterthought. His premise: intervene as little as possible in vineyard and cellar, and treat the farm as an ecosystem rather than a monoculture, with free-standing alberello vines interplanted with fruit trees and buckwheat, plus beehives. The name Munjebel comes from Mongibello, the old Sicilian name for Etna that fuses the Latin mons with the Arabic jabal, mountain twice over. His whites, once an afterthought even to him, now anchor the range as natural wine from Etna with real structure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGrilled swordfish with salmoriglio, since the wine's acidity plays the same role as the lemon-oregano sauce. Spaghetti alle vongole, where the saline finish meets clam brine head-on. Fried artichokes or arancini, because that light skin-contact grip scrubs fried richness cleanly. Roast chicken thighs with preserved lemon and green olives, matching the bitter-citrus finish. The kind of white that turns a Tuesday fish dinner into the reason you cooked at all.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Benny and Zoid","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51288829853919,"sku":null,"price":55.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8280225.jpg?v=1787961526"},{"product_id":"ciro-biondi-etna-bianco-outis-2025","title":"Ciro Biondi Etna Bianco “Outis” 2025","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe best Etna whites are supposed to come from Milo, on the volcano's eastern face. Trecastagni, farther south on the same seaward side, makes the case that the whole southeastern flank deserves the attention. Ciro Biondi's terraces face east toward the Ionian Sea at about 640 meters, close enough to catch the sea breeze that keeps Carricante taut through a Sicilian summer. Chianta, where the estate's white grapes grow alongside Nerello, sits mostly inside an ancient caldera from around 125 BC, its vines climbing the steep western ridge on loose volcanic sand. The ash-light topsoil drains instantly, and the altitude cools the nights. That combination is why Carricante from Etna holds acidity that most Mediterranean whites lose.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ciro Biondi Etna Bianco Outis 2025 is mostly Carricante, about 90 percent according to the importer's tech sheet, with the balance from Catarratto, Minnella and other local white varieties grown in the same rows. Per that sheet, the grapes ferment at low temperature in stainless steel with selected yeasts, then rest six months on the lees in steel before a coarse filtration. Steel keeps the fruit clean and the lees add a fuller, slightly creamy middle without any oak. Look for pale straw in the glass, then lemon peel, white peach, chamomile and wet stone. The palate is medium-bodied and dry, with bright acidity, a glossy texture and a saline, faintly bitter almond finish. Sicilian growers called 2025 a near-ideal year on Etna, with steady rain, a mild summer, and healthy, abundant Carricante.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Biondi family has held vineyards on Etna since the 1600s and bottled wine under its own name by the late 1800s. In the years around World War I, Ciro's great-uncle Salvatore Biondi and grandfather Cirino brought the wines to fairs in Casale Monferrato, Paris, Lyon, Cuneo and Milan, and the family records an honor by royal appointment to King Vittorio Emanuele III. After World War II the business faded, and bottling stopped entirely in 1960. Ciro, trained as an architect, revived it with his wife Stephanie in 1999, working out of the family's centuries-old cellar in Trecastagni. They farm organically and named this wine after Odysseus's trick on the Cyclops: Outis, \"no one.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eServe it cool, not ice cold. Pasta con le sarde, with fresh sardines, wild fennel, raisins and toasted breadcrumbs, is the Sicilian match, since the acidity cuts the oily fish and the bitter finish echoes the fennel. Grilled swordfish with capers and lemon wants the same salinity. Fried artichokes with sea salt lean on the wine's texture to handle the crisp batter. And a plate of raw oysters with a squeeze of lemon lets the stony side show. Keep a bottle cold for the first warm evening on the patio.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Stelvio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67907678044383,"sku":null,"price":44.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/PA030459.jpg?v=1791073999"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/collections\/drcmontrachet_macro_photography_a_cluster_of_white_wine_grapes__5c9b7c1a-8635-487b-ad32-0e43f6ce38ff.png?v=1793249749","url":"https:\/\/denverwinemerchant.com\/collections\/carricante.oembed","provider":"Denver Wine Merchant","version":"1.0","type":"link"}