Planeta Menfi Chardonnay 2023

Produced since 1995 in the Sicilian town of Menfi, from where the Planeta winery operates, Planeta Chardonnay is currently one of the winery's and the island's most representative wines. Chardonnay was the first variety to be planted here in the mid1980s, in the Ulmo and Maroccoli vineyards, at an altitude that ranges between 250 and 415 metres above sea level and on clay-based ground. Stemming from these grapes, ripened under the Sicilian sun yet simultaneously undergoing the influence of a fresh Mediterranean breeze, is this seductive white wine which encapsulates better than any other the firm's history and makes abundantly clear how international varieties adapt extraordinarily well to Sicily's soils. Elegant and powerful at the same time, Planeta Chardonnay ages for a year in Allier oak barrels, with half of them new and the rest either second or third use. The terroir's distinctive traits and the expertise of its producers, long experienced over a period of more than twenty years, form the foundation of this iconic wine, highly regarded by the national and international press. Once in the glass the wine appears an irresistible golden colour and imparts a complex bouquet of fruit-charged notes (pineapple, papaya and melon), white flowers, almonds and delightful hints of vanilla and melted butter. An intense, sweet and warm aroma, but well-balanced thanks to the acidity aligning tropical fruit notes. Rounded and velvety on the palate, creamy and with very notable acidity, it ends with a long finish of subtle smoky hints.