Barraco "Fior di Bianco" Terre Siciliane 2025

Press 4 Mix/White • October/November 2026 Direct Press Selection

Nino Barraco is a son of Marsala, where successive generations have watched the market and the price of their wines take an epic nose dive. At one point, owing to not just wine but capers and salt, Marsala was the second wealthiest city in Italy. But now it has just roughly half of the vineyards and production it once did. Even more shocking is that only 3 or 4% of the wine is bottled: most is sold off as bulk wine, a problem endemic to much of Sicily for the past 50 years. In Marsala, most of it goes to France to be used as cooking wine. Not surprisingly, Nino Barraco decided to go in a different direction in 2004, working organically from day one and making his decisions based on the health of the soil and vines. He goes for an oxidative approach in the cellar, a method that pre-dates the 18th century English merchants that started exporting sweet, fortified Marsala.

"Fior di Bianco" is the Barraco wine that gives a nice snapshot of Marsala's terroir. It's a blend of Catarratto, Zibibbo (aka Muscat), Grillo, and Grecanico that come from vineyards spread around Marsala, all fermented separately. Even without skin contact, it's a wine with salty texture and dried apple ring notes. This is balanced out with pineapple and bright citrus, keeping it fresh, clear, and deliciously thirst-quenching. Jonathan Kemp