Donnafugata Ben Rye 2023

The Land

Pantelleria is closer to Tunisia than to Sicily, a black volcanic island in the middle of the strait where the wind almost never stops. That wind dictates everything about how Zibibbo is grown here. Vines are trained as alberello pantesco, low bush vines planted in shallow hollows scooped out of the volcanic soil so the plant sits below the gusts, each one pruned to keep its arms close to the ground. The island is terraced with dry-stone walls that hold the soil in place on slopes no tractor will ever climb, and everything is done by hand. UNESCO added the practice to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014, the first time a farming technique received that recognition. The soils are volcanic, dark, sandy, and free-draining, and they give Muscat of Alexandria an intensity that the same grape does not reach anywhere else.

The Wine

100% Zibibbo, which is Muscat of Alexandria under its Sicilian name. Roughly half the crop is picked early and laid out on open-air racks to dry under the island sun for several weeks, shrinking to raisins that are then hand-destemmed one bunch at a time. Those raisins go into the fermenting must of the later, fresh harvest in stages, so the dried fruit macerates and gives up its sugar and aroma gradually rather than all at once. Fermentation is in temperature-controlled stainless steel, followed by roughly eight months in tank and at least twelve months in bottle before release. The 2023 carries 199 grams per liter of residual sugar against 7.9 grams of total acidity at 14.5% alcohol, which is why it reads as sweet without going syrupy. Dried apricot, golden raisin, candied orange peel, honey, dried mint, and a saline volcanic bite on a very long finish.

The People

Donnafugata was founded in 1983 by Giacomo Rallo and Gabriella Anca Rallo, whose family had been in the Marsala wine business since the 19th century. Their move was to leave fortified wine behind and bet on Sicily's dry table wines and its islands. The Pantelleria project began at the end of the 1980s, when the island's terraced Zibibbo vineyards were being abandoned in large numbers because the work is punishing and the yields are tiny. Ben Ryé, Arabic for son of the wind, was their argument that the island was worth the labor. The estate is now run by the second generation, José and Antonio Rallo, and the Pantelleria holdings are spread across dozens of small parcels rather than one block, because on this island that is the only way land exists.

Food Pairing

Sweet wine that is savory enough to go past dessert. Aged Gorgonzola or a washed-rind cheese with walnuts, almond biscotti or cassata, a bowl of dried figs and Marcona almonds, or seared foie gras if the occasion calls for it. The acidity keeps it from cloying against blue cheese, and the salted, dried-fruit character mirrors almond pastry rather than competing with it. Serve it cold, in small pours, and it will outlast the conversation.