2023 Planeta Chardonnay

The organic Planeta 2023 Sicilia Menfi Chardonnay is a creamy and rich interpretation with sweet almond, apricot and Sicilian candied fruit. The wine delivers beautiful intensity over a thickly layered, full-bodied mouthfeel. Fruit comes from the Ulmo vineyard (positioned at 250 meters above sea level) and Maroccoli (at 415 meters in elevation). The wine is aged in Allier French barrique with 40% new oak, 30% second-use and 30% third-use barrel for 11 months. This is a massive production of close to a quarter of a million bottles, and that's an impressive feat. (ML)

Planeta practically put modern Sicilian wine on the map with this exact bottling, and historically, it leaned hard into a rich, golden, heavily-wooded profile. But the 2023 is a completely different beast. It sheds all of that heavy, commercial luxury to deliver something fiercely coastal, wild, and alive. Sourced from the blindingly white, chalky soils of Menfi, the nose totally bypasses lazy tropical fruit. Instead, it hits you with a sharp, untamed blast of crushed sea shells, wild fennel, green almond, and preserved lemon. There is a framing of wood here, but it reads as toasted hazelnut and crushed stone rather than anything sweet or buttery. On the palate, it absolutely vibrates. There is undeniable texture and dry extract from the barrel fermentation, but it refuses to be wide, fat, or perfectly polite. It drives straight down the center with a tense, vertical spine of acidity and a massive, mouthwatering saline snap. It has a raw, electric nervous energy that keeps all the island richness perfectly in check. This is bone-dry, highly architectural Chardonnay that completely resets the palate and demands a massive plate of charred swordfish.