2021 Federico Curtaz, Gamma, Etna Bianco

A lovely Etna Bianco, made from the Carricante grape, one of Italy's (well, Sicily's) great sleeper white varieties capable of sculpting incredibly chiseled, saline-inflected wines. Federico Curtaz was born in Val d'Aosta, but has lived most of his life in Piemonte where his mother's family had a farm with cattle and vineyards. He graduated as an agronomist in Asti where he later taught. In 1983 he met Angelo Gaja with whom he collaborated for 15 years as an agronomist. After various consulting gigs around the world, he fell in love with Sicily and its history, culture and wines. He started a joint project with a new winery on the Etna, where a true renaissance was just underway. In 2015 he parted ways from the project in order to start his own namesake winery. He rents and manages 3 separate small vineyards, near Noto for his Nero d'Avola grapes; on the eastern slopes of the Etna, near Milo, for his Carricante grapes and on the southern slopes, near Biancavilla for his Nerello Mascalese. 2015 was the first vintage to be bottled by Federico. His total production now hovers around 10,000 bottles. Refreshing, bright and racy. A perfect choice for seafood.