Amber One Catarratto 2022 by Rallo SpA is a fruity orange wine from Sicily, the large island at the toe of Italy. The local white grape variety Catarratto is here made in a natural wine style with an orange slightly unclear colour. Sicily has a warm Mediterranean climate and a very long wine history, going back to the old Greek settlements there. Now Catarratto and the black grape variety Nero d’Avola are the the two most planted grape varieties.
Catarratto is a high yielding variety, giving wines with medium to high acidity and lemon and herbal notes. This wine, being natural in style, has been macerating with its skins – thereby creating the orange colour. This also adds a slight astringency and a light level of tannins, normally found in red wines which also macerate with the skins adding colour and tannins.
On the nose we find spice with hints of blossom, winter apples, straw, apricot and orange. The wine is dry and has medium (+) acidity and medium body. The alcohol level is 13 % abv. On the palate we find similar slightly spicy notes as on the nose, with slight astringency, hints of winter apples, dried herbs, flowers, apricot and orange peel.
This is a pleasant and well-balanced natural orange wine, with medium length and a texture that makes it very nice to pair with both vegetarian dishes, light meat dishes and poultry. We give it 81 points, and the price in Sweden at Systembolaget is 128 kr and the nr is 78514.
