The Biondi family has been making wines since the beginning of the 1900s from vineyards they have owned since the 1600s. Ciri Biondi and his wife, Stephanie, are now overseeing the vines and winemaking. I recently met him and tasted this wine at Etna Days, a media event in Etna. The wine was intense and more concentrated than many of the whites I had tasted. I noted that it reminded me of a white Burgundy. He then told me that he had met Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, who had shared a few white winemaking tips. The Pianta is primarily Carricanti with a bit of Cataratto and Minnella fermented and aged in French oak.
Biondi, Etna Bianco DOC (Sicily, Italy) 2019
By Rebecca Murphy