Tenuta di Castellaro. Interesting Wines From Lipari

by Andrew Chalk

Lipari, the idyllic island off the north coast of Italy, which for Jeff Bezos is an even more enticing place to yacht than the Amazon, is my kind of wine producing area. Dedicated to wines of place (in the idiom of Randall Grahm) rather than wines of effort. A wine of place expresses its terroir. For Tenuta di Castellaro that is the small island of Lipari, with soils that are sandy, volcanic, deep, fertile and rich in microelements. A climate that is all windy days from the Mistral’s trails, Mediterranean, warm. Terrain that requires terracing, as boldly as in parts of the Douro, to make maximum productive use of it. 

With such terroir it is hardly a surprise that the island is inundated with tourists in the summer, up to 200,000.

The Aeolian Islands

Output is piffling, explaining why it is very much a cognoscenti that drinks it. This is latching wine. That is, once you have had it, you go back and have it again, and again. You are latched to it. Island sales are to the tourists, and the 12,800 permanent residents on the Island and its adjacent islands, that form the Aolian islands, that sustain the one two-star and two one-star Michelin restaurants that every place with thirteen thousand residents has. Outside the island chain Castellaro sells as far and wide as the USA, UK, Germany, most other EU countries and Thailand.   

We tasted three wines with Daniele Sassi, export manager, who retains Italian charm in his accent, while maintaining a grasp of English vocabulary as broad as that of a college instructor. 

Tenuta di Castellaro, 2024 Bianco Pomice, IGT Terre Siciliane Rosso ($38)

Malvasia delle Lipari 60%, Carricante 40%. Batonage and yeast contact give this wine a beautiful weighty mouthfeel. The much underrated Malvasia grape contributes flavor and both grapes help define a sharp rail of acidity that makes it lively, and food friendly. It is almost true to say that ‘only’ Italy could produce such an avant garde distinctive wine. The automotive equivalent would be a Morgan Plus 4 or Maserati’s irresistible Boomerang.

My favorite of the three. I can see so many food combinations working with this revelation.

Tenuta di Castellaro, 2021 Nero Ossidiana, IGT Terre Siciliane Rosso ($44)

Corinto Nero 90%, Nero d’Avola 10%. A Sicilian’s Southern Rhône. Bold fruit flavors, subterranean opacity, and ingratiating tannins. A wine for cinghiale. 

Tenuta di Castellaro, 2021 Corinto, IGT Terre Siciliane Rosso ($60)

Corinto Nero 100%. Soft, ripe fruit. Red ine for red fish suggested Daniele Sassi. I agree.

Sample.