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Tola Catarratto Insolia


Year

2010
Varietal

Catarratto
Style

Smooth
Origin

Italy
Pairing

Vegetables
$13.00 $11.05 per bottle
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Origin
Sicily, located just two miles from the southwestern tip of the Italian mainland, is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. As the Greeks understood as early as the eighth century B.C., Sicily’s climate, topography and volcanic soils are uniquely suited to growing grapes. Sicily has long been known for Marsala and bulk wines exported to other parts of Italy for mass blending, but a new generation of winemakers has begun to realize Sicily’s extraordinary potential for producing world-class table wines.
Pairings
Vivid flavors, supple mid-palate and mouthwatering crispness are the hallmarks of carefully crafted dry Insolia and Catarratto. These characteristics ensure that the wine will pair flawlessly with many salads and vegetarian dishes, as well as fresh, simply prepared seafood, most notably shellfish. The wine’s mineral backbone and brisk acidity will serve as a counterpoint to richer fish dishes, while also standing up to higher-acid preparations, such as those incorporating tomatoes or citrus juices. Consider ceviche, grilled fish or a Mediterranean-style seafood salad. Serve chilled (52°F).
Winemaker
Located in the area of Partinico, a town about 20 miles west of central Palermo, the Tola family is one of the leading wine producers of this lovely and important region of Sicily. With a mixture of hills and high plains, this area’s climate is cast between sea breezes and the famously hot sirocco winds that blow from nearby Africa. Headed by the patriarch Mimmo Tola, the family has been a major innovator in both its adoption of some international varieties and in its early adoption of clean, modern winemaking methods.
The Wine
Catarratto and Insolia (also spelled Inzolia), are common to the western part of the island. Catarratto was a traditional workhorse, Sicily’s most widely planted grape, used mainly to innocuous effect in the blending of Marsala. But, when well-farmed, it can yield wines of lovely weight with citrus and mineral notes. Insolia, which can also be used in Marsala, makes a rich, dry white wine with a captivating Meyer lemon scent, grapefruit-like punch and nutty flavor. In the Tola, these two come together to produce a wine that is supple and bright, with an intriguing complexity redolent of honeysuckle, orange blossoms and tropical fruits.

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