Riofavara "Nsajar" Bianco, Sicily, Italy 2019

FROM KERMIT LYNCH:

THE WINE: 40% Cutrera, 30% Rucignola, 30% Recunu. “Nsajàr” means “to try something new” in the local dialect, and this wine is the epitome of creating something new from something old. Massimo decided to resurrect three nearly extinct Sicilian white grape varieties, Cutrera, Rucignola, and Recunu, which he felt would be well suited to the warming climate thanks to their high natural acidity. The 2019 represents the first vintage of this exciting project and the results are more than promising. It is a bracingly fresh bianco, offering notes of citrus zest, crushed stone, and pine resin, that finishes on an intensely chalky note from its limestone terroir. Massimo believes this to be the only bottling of these three grapes in the world!

THE PRODUCER: One of the newest additions to our portfolio is Kermit’s first Sicilian producer: the Riofavara estate, which is on the southern tip of this legendary island. The Padova family has tended vines here for almost a century, but only in 1993 did they begin bottling their own wine. Just a few years later, Massimo Padova took over the estate along with his sister Marianta, their cousin Antonella, and Massimo’s wife, Margherita. This energetic young team has worked tirelessly over the last dozen years to build a new winery and hone production techniques, resulting in an impeccable expression of the land they prize so highly.