Occhipinti SM Bianco 2022

100% Grillo. In 2016, Arianna acquired new property and planted four plots of Grillo, totaling two hectares. These vines are in the contrada of Santa Margherita ("SM" with a cheeky strike-through on the label since contrada names are not legal) in Chiaramonte Gulfi, at the foot of the Iblei mountains, just north of Vittoria. They are planted on hillsides surrounded by pine forest, old oaks and ancient olive trees at almost 500 meters altitude, far higher up than Occhipinti's Vittoria vineyards. This area is quite cool, buffeted by winds constantly and at the furthest extreme for ripening grapes. The marine soils are sandy calcareous marl of ancient origin. The farming is certified-organic and the harvest by hand. The grapes were destemmed and fermented spontaneously in concrete tank with a 24-hour maceration. The wine was aged for a year in a combination of concrete and Slavonian oak botte and bottled without fining or filtering. 2020 was the first vintage of the wine.