Palazzo del Mare, Catarratto, IGT Sicily, Italy, 2024

Producer Profile

Like those of Babalù, Palazzo del Mare’s vineyards are situated at an altitude of 200-300m, ensuring cooler night-time temperatures that preserve the crucial acidity in the grapes.

As a consequence, its wines are similarly bright and fresh in style. The Catarratto displays the signature crisp, citrus-laced fruit-filled style for which Sicilian white wines are famous, while the Nero d´Avola delivers ample ripe, plummy fruit from this famous native grape variety.

Viticulture

A combination of hand and machine harvested grapes. Yields are naturally limited by the winds and climatic conditions on the island and average around 7 tonnes per hectare. Vineyard sites are situated at an altitude of 200-300m, ensuring cooler night time temperatures which preserve crucial acidity in the grapes. The average age of the vineyards are 15 years old. The Palazzo wines tend to be harvested earlier than many of their neighbours and consequently they are bright and fresh with no baked flavours.

Winemaking

Harvested in the cool of the morning for maximum preservation of fresh fruit flavours. Gentle pressing in a pneumatic press followed by overnight cold maceration in order to extract all the aromatics from the grapes. Fermented at 14C in stainless steel, temperature controlled tanks. left on the lees with occasional battonage enhance the texture and complexity of the wine. The wine does not undergo malolactic fermentation in order to ensure it is bright, fresh and zippy.

Tasting Note

The Catarratto grape calls Sicily home and this example displays the signature crisp, citrus laced fruit filled style. With passionfruit, sweet ripe lemons and a trace of almond on the finish, this wine was destined to accompany great seafood dishes.

Food Matching

This wine goes well with baked seafood, classic Italian pizza and salads