Alessandro Viola Note di Bianco
After a frightfully fantastic evening of tasting wines with Britt last night we’re ready to wine down. This weekend, we’re sharing this Alessandro Viola Note di Bianco. It’s 100% Grillo (gree-yo) from a small, organic, biodynamic producer located in the northwest corner of Sicily. The clay-based soil and proximity to the ocean give this wine a distinct salty and fresh finish. This unfiltered wine is slightly cloudy in the glass with an herbal, fruity nose and a textured mouthfeel. It’s dry with a light to medium body, lightly bitter with pear skin, citrus, paraffin wax, and a lot of salinity on the finish. We found drinking it unchilled let the flavors sing through more than with a chill on the wine.
Alessandro cultivates seven hectares of organically farmed vines worked strictly by hand. His philosophy is to make wine using only grapes. Using his noninterventionist approach, there is spontaneous fermentation with native yeast, unfiltered and unfined, certified organic under the appellation Terre Sicilane IGT. Vinification and aging occur in stainless steel. A careful and deliberate bâtonnage, or lees-stirring, process is performed once a month for six months. Lees stirring is useful in a number of ways: it extracts more flavor, aroma, and texture from the lees; scavenges oxygen in the barrel reducing the need for sulfur dioxide to prevent oxidation; enhances the body and makes for more solid tannins.
Alessandro’s father was a vine grower and Alessandro decided to get a formal education to add to the lessons he had learned from his father’s experience. He was drawn more to the farming aspects of winemaking, rather than the more mechanical studies being taught at the time. Now Alessandro cares for and is involved all phases of the winemaking process, from the agricultural management of the vineyards to the vinification of the grapes. His love of his Sicilian roots makes him a fervent advocate for native varieties, including Grillo.
Created with Alessandro’s passion and dedication, this wine embodies the essence of Sicilian terroir and the vision of its producer. It’s a unique expression of Sicily. If you’re a lover of natural and organic wines you should definitely give this one a try. It’s a nice wine to enjoy with a friend who loves natural wines or is vegan, this is a great bottle to share.
