Thanks to an especially wet winter (and spring), hillsides all over Northern California are abloom with bright orange blooms of California poppies. There’s something about today’s white—its citrusy, floral aroma chiefly—that reminds me of those blooms, but more powerful still is the memory of my visit to Salina, the tiny volcanic island off the coast of Sicily where this wine is made.
Many of you will recognize this label, as Caravaglio’s “Infatata” is a perennial around here (like the poppies). During a visit last year, I was blown away by the physical beauty and inimitable flavors of Salina, and by the charismatic hospitality of Nino Caravaglio. This is the kind of wine region that makes you want to drop everything and move there (I made a few inquiries as to vineyard and home prices on Salina), but what’s equally important is that the Caravaglio wines impress even when you’re not staring out at the Mediterranean from the slopes of a volcano. This is the third consecutive vintage we’ve offered of “Infatata,” Caravaglio’s marvelous single-vineyard Malvasia, and I’m ready to stock up. It’s got texture, it’s got exotic fruit and herb aromas, and it’s got a sea-kissed salinity that transports me directly back to its place of origin. A better summer white you will not find!
Salina is part of the archipelago of seven volcanic islands (others include Lipari and Stromboli) off Sicily’s northeast coast. Steep-sloped and sparsely populated, with whitewashed villages sitting at the base of giant, vine-draped craters, this is where you go for the best seafood of your life; giant caper berries; and grapes from vines never blighted by phylloxera (volcanic/sandy terroirs proved resistant to the louse, which ravaged Europe at the end of the 19th century). The most famous Aeolian wines are sweet, dried-grape nectars from Malvasia, which are labeled Malvasia delle Lipari DOC regardless of which island the grapes come from. Delicious, salty dry whites (like this one, labeled “Malvasia Secca”) are also made from Malvasia, along with reds from a trove of different grapes.
Although Nino Caravaglio “officially” founded his cantina in 1992, his family has cultivated vines and other crops on the island since the 16th century. His vineyards have been certified organic almost since the winery’s creation, with 37 acres on Salina. The island’s arid climate and cleansing breezes make Caravaglio’s commitment to natural farming that much easier; mold and disease resistance are not big issues here, and the exceedingly good health and cleanliness of the fruit enables Caravaglio to keep added sulfur to the barest minimum.
This bottling, aptly named “Infatata” (“enchanted”), includes an image on its label of a single, triangle-shaped vineyard, called ‘Tricoli,’ which climbs up the side of an ancient volcano. The grapes from this site are hand-harvested and sorted in the vineyard, then fermented on indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks. It spends just three months resting in tank before bottling, and here we are—a bright, floral, saline white that hints at both Spanish Albariño and French Muscadet but adds an extra layer of intrigue. Malvasia has a more floral, tropical aromatic profile and a slightly waxy texture reminiscent of some northern Rhône whites, and this Salina-grown interpretation brings all of that to the table along with a pronounced sea-air salinity and electrifying freshness. In the glass, it’s a deep yellow-gold, with aromas of orange blossom, acacia honey, white peach, preserved lemon, green herbs, and caper brine. Serve it at 45-50 degrees in all-purpose white wine stems and pair it with just about any seafood preparation you can imagine. When we offered this wine last year, we suggested a Sicilian-style sole piccata, and you know what? No reason to mess with perfection! Enjoy!
