Passobianco 2018 Terre Siciliane IGP
Unlike most Etna white wines usually made with the indigenous Carricante, Passobianco is made with pure Chardonnay. Upon his arrival on Etna, Andrea Franchetti planted 4 hectares of Chardonnay, all between 850m and 1000m on the steep terraces of Contrada Guardiola, where the loose, deep soil is composed of lava ash with a high mineral content.
2018 VINTAGE
As for the 2018 vintage, it was one of the wettest in the last eight years, especially in the summer months, resulting in that classic tropical climate, defined by heat and humidity. We were forced to make many more passes to remove the leaves, first on the Chardonnay vines, always going step by step, because we absolutely did not want burns on the chichi, but at the same time letting them, after each pass, be crossed by the wind so that they dried quickly after each rain. And in addition, the bunches so exposed, are totally reached and enveloped by the propolis and clay. After a thousand efforts, we still managed to harvest and produce a Chardonnay.
Variety: 100% Chardonnay
Age of vines: 18 years
Vineyards: 5 hectares with approximately 12,300 plants per hectare
Altitude: 800-1,000 m asl
Yield: 48 Hl/Ha
Fertilisation: None
Treatments: sulphur powder, copper, clay, propolis, grapefruit seed extract
Vinification: steel vats for about 20 days at 23°C
Ageing: 10 months in cement and large wooden barrels, 6 months in bottle
Bottling: July 2019 waning moon
Production: 42,300 bottles
