Benanti
About Benanti
Situated near the foot of Mount Ena on the Italian island of Sicily, Cantina Benanti has been family owned and operated since the late 1800s. Benanti is one of the most historic estates in the region. Bringing these electrifying wines to the global stage, Robert M. Parker Jr once rated them as “among the best made on the volcano today”. Monica Larner (Wine Advocate) goes even further, declaring that their Pietra Marina is “the wine that, when I tasted it many years ago, made me fall in love with Etna”.
Despite this heritage, this Sicilian gem has taken an entirely updated and modern approach to viticulture with particular respect and reverence shown for the island's rich, distinctive volcanic soils and indigenous grape varieties. The star of Benanti is rising among Italian wineries with its bottles increasingly sought after at home and abroad.
Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
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Sicily | 10 | 95 (VN) | HK$17,820.00 | |||||
Vinous (95)The 2015 Etna Rosso Rovittello Riserva is coy and understated, offering up hints of black cherry, dusty rose and flowery undergrowth. It’s silky yet youthfully dense in feel and quite savory, the salty minerals and spice taking center stage, while black fruits and grippy tannins come forward more toward the finish, and finishes youthfully dry and structured, allowing only nuances of currant and purple-tinged florals to resonate. This new Rovittello Riservais sourced from a small parcel of pre-phylloxera vines on Etna’s northern slope. After a long maceration, the wine spends 24 months refining in large, 15-hectoliter French oak casks. There’s certainly a lot of potential here, and it will be very interesting to follow the wine’s development over time. |
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Sicily | 1 | 94 (VN) | HK$19,695.00 | |||||
Vinous (94)Ashen stone and animal musk give way to dusty florals, spiced citrus and dried black cherries, as the 2015 Etna Rosso Serra della Contessa Riserva dramatically opens up in the glass. It’s deceptively soft and juicy in feel, casting a pure display of ripe red and black fruits across a core of zesty acids, yet with fine tannins that slowly saturate toward the finale. This finishes with persistence, but also with a hulking structure that will require years to resolve, as inner rose notes and tart woodland berries linger longer. This is the inaugural vintage of the Serra della Contessa Riserva, a single-parcel selection of pre-phylloxera vines. |