Gebbia "Ambratu" Vino Bianco Macerato Terre Siciliane IGT 2023

An Italian beauty! This macerated white wine, or orange wine, is a blend of 80% Catarratto, 20% Zibibbo. It smells of orange peel, English Breakfast tea, almond butter, black pepper, rose-scented Turkish Delight and rock salt. The palate gives more orange and tea leaves, Mediterranean herbs. A touch of vanilla bean peaks in on the finish with lilting notes of beeswax and dried orange peel. Slightly tannic but with bright acidity and notes of apricot tea. LOVELY!

Catarratto is from high elevation vineyards (20 years old) at 700 meters above seal level, and Zibibbo from lower elevation (15 years old) at 250 meters above sea level. The grapes are hand-harvested at the end of August and beginning of September. The Catarratto is macerated on skins for 14 days but does not oxidize, creating the structure and acidity of the wine. The Zibibbo is macerated for 20 days on the skins and is allowed to oxidize, creating the beautiful aromatics and color of the wine. Spontaneous fermentation at 58° F for 14 days and 20 days. After the skins are removed, the separate wines are aged in stainless steel for four months, blended in January, and bottled in February and March.

Gebbia's focus is wines made from the indigenous grapes of Italy -- delicious, economical, well packaged and certified organic. All the wines are produced as 100% pure varietals with minimal intervention in order to allow the characteristics of the grape to shine through. The sourcing for their grapes comes from family vineyards.

This Gebbia's latest project: Liter bottles with a crown cap closure, still only using native Sicilian varietals, unfined and unfiltered. The sourcing for their grapes comes from organic family vineyards and long-term contracts no further than one hour from the winery. The wines must be light on their feet (for their category), low in alcohol (max 12.5%), refreshing and a great value. The labels are done in watercolor and pen and are from personal photographs taken of Sicily. Each label was designed to coordinate with both the feel and the color of the wine.