Sallier de La Tour Inzolia Sicilia DOC 2022

Produced from Sicily’s autochthonous Inzolia grape variety (aka Insolia) the 2022 Sallier de La Tour Inzolia is a bright, festive wine that sports a slightly golden hue that reminds us of the dazzling Sicilian sun and the formidable light that illuminates the alluring and exotic island of Sicily. Sallier de La Tour’s 2022 Inzolia exudes an airy aromatic perfume, which beautifully reveals the sensual side of Sicilian wine. Fragrant, subtle and faintly spicy, Sallier de La Tour’s 2022 Inzolia first greets the palate with a fresh open smile, but once in the mouth it expresses a deeper layer of fruit, spice and stone – all of which enliven the senses and will make you beg for more. Although neither big nor brawny, nor buttery, nor oaky, this dry white wine captivates the palate and refreshes the senses with a combination of gentle ripe fruit, a hint of cinnamon, and a touch of exotica, the latter affording the wine as well as the mysterious land of Sicily a special allure. We suggest serving the gracious and lively 2022 Sallier de La Tour Inzolia moderately chilled (38°-45° F). Anticipated maturity: 2024-2026. Salute!

A bottle of the 2022 Sallier de La Tour Inzolia brings its welcome to nearly any occasion. It makes a delicious party-time wine, yet it fares equally well with a variety of spicy, typically hard to pair foods. For starters, Inzolia possesses a penchant for accompanying a wide array of foods, including two uniquely Sicilian specialties: Shrimp Fra Diavolo and Pasta Arrabiata. The 2022 Sallier de La Tour Inzolia does justice to both these island favorites as it sports a seductive aromatic profile and a succulent, textured feel that seems to tame the heat in spicy dishes. In short, it’s an ideal accompaniment to highly charged dishes, without ever going over the top. Escargots and Sicily’s land based snails called babbaluci make splendid accompaniment, too, either on their own or served over pasta. Pasta dishes with vegetables, lightly grilled chicken, and seafood also provide good companionship to this wine, as do most fish-based soups such as Bouillabaisse and Cioppino. Buon Appétito!

Located outside of Palermo and the magnificent cathedral of Monreale, a UNESCO World Heritage site in the culturally rich Alto Belice, Sallier La Tour has belonged to the Sallier de La Tour family, Princes of Camporeale, since the mid-nineteenth century. Although the family’s origins are Italy’s Piedmont region of northern Italy, they relocated to Sicily in the 18th century. Several decades later in 1909 they built the estate’s winery—La Monaca— which draws its name from the highest hill on the property that looms just behind the estate. However, it wasn’t until the 1940s that Paolo Sallier de La Tour began expanding the family’s viticultural interests by focusing on Sicily’s two most celebrated native varietals, Inzolia and Nero d’Avola. And in 1956, Paolo Sallier de La Tour married Costanza Tasca d’Almerita, thereby joining two noble families.

Although viticulture had been an important part of Sallier de La Tour for more than a century, it wasn’t until the early 2000s that Paolo’s son, Filiberto, began making the first estate wines under the family name. Filiberto also started experimenting with other varietals, most notably Syrah, which had been cultivated in Sicily for decades. In 2008 the Sallier de La Tour winery and the Tasca d’Amerita family of wines conjoined. Having long been impressed with Filiberto’s passion and the family’s deep ties to their land, Alberto Tasca agreed to Filiberto’s idea of joining Sallier de La Tour to the Tasca d’Almerita family of wineries, thus beginning a new chapter for Sallier de La Tour.

Today, Sallier de La Tour is managed by Costanza Chirivino, a member of the Sallier de La Tour family, with the support of the Tasca d’Almerita team. Costanza’s energy and enthusiasm are infectious, her passion for her family’s legacy unbounded, and her knowledge of the surrounding Alto Belice formidable. She oversees all of the commercial aspects of the estate, while Alberto Tasca manages the property according to the tenants of SOStain, a sustainability program that requires third-party certification of the entire estate’s impact on air, water, soil, and the surrounding territory in order to ensure environmental, economic, and social sustainability. With a passion for terroir and the production of authentic expressions of Sicily’s rich viticultural heritage, this passionate and capable team fashion a myriad of wines centered around the elegant and distinctive Inzolia, Sicily’s flagship white grape variety, and Nero d’Avola, the island’s renowned red grape. Sallier de La Tour also produces excellent white wine from Grillo, another outstanding indigenous Sicilian varietal, as well as superb Syrah.