Foti Etna White 'Aurora' 2024

CRITICAL ACCLAIM:

“Declassified in this vintage due to it being lower alcohol than the appellation requires, the 2024 Aurora is a bright straw color and is fresh and savory with white flowers, lemon rind, lime leaf, pineapple rind, and chalky earth. A blend of 90% Caricante and 10% Minella, the vinification is direct press, using a Champagne press and aged in stainless steel. It’s fantastic on the palate, with great balance, and it’s linear, pure, and lively, with salted lime, a refined texture, and a balance of saltiness and fruit. Drink 2025-2035.” - 92 PTS, JEB DUNNUCK

PRODUCER NOTES:

OVERVIEW: “AURORA, meaning Dawn, is also the name of a small and graceful, native butterfly of Etna (represented on the label) at risk of extinction. The vineyard is cultivated by hand using natural products. No biotechnology is used in winemaking. Decanting and bottling are carried out according to the lunar phases.”

VARIETAL COMPOSITION: 90% Carricante, 10% Minella Bianca

ABOUT THE PRODUCER: “In Catania in 1435 the “Maestranza dei Vigneri” was founded. This important association of winemakers, operating on Etna, created the basis for a winemaking profession whose protagonists were the winemakers themselves. After 500 years, I Vigneri is an entity operating on Etna and in eastern Sicily. The vines are cultivated following Etna traditions, placing respect for the environment and the people who live on the land first. This agricultural approach leads us to use only traditional fungicides such as copper and sulphur for vine cultivation. The training system with which all our vineyards are cultivated is the Etnean sapling. This system, deeply rooted in Etnean viticulture and its native vines, allows us to obtain, thanks to its optimal vegetative-productive structure, the least intervention of external products. The smaller quantity of grapes, which reach an excellent polyphenolic ripeness, produced per vine is compensated by the high density of the sapling vines (8000-10000 vines per ha.”