Palmento Costanzo ‘Contrada Cavaliere’ Etna Bianco 2020 750ml

About Palmento Costanzo

In the subregion of Sicily’s Contrada Santo Spirito, on the north slope of Mount Etna near the village of Passopisciaro, sits the Palmento Costanzo estate. Owned and operated by Valeria Agosto and her husband, Mimmo Constanzo, this organic winery is surrounded by Italy’s Parco Naturale dell’Etna, a UNESCO World Heritage site. In 2010, Valeria and Mimmo purchased a 17-acre existing estate in Etna Nord, and they named their estate after the eighteenth-century stone winemaking structure, the palmento, located on the property, expanding their holdings to 45 acres over time. Planted to indigenous grapes Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Carricante, and Catarratto, Palmento Costanzo’s vineyards grow on a snaking series of more than 100 terraces, about 2,000 to 2,600 feet above sea level, and the team relies on ultra-natural winemaking techniques like using only naturally occurring yeasts, gravity flow through lava stone, and aging in large “ovum” barrels. The resulting wines feel almost alive with energy, brimming with terroir, and almost achingly pure — Palmento Costanzo is a rising star in Italian wine.