Bright straw yellow. Ripe aromas and flavours of tropical fruit, ripe citrus, and beeswax, lifted by a pretty floral note. Then at once glyceral and with a laser-like acid grip, but with so much round fruity fresh to the mango, papaya and grapefruit flavours that it really tastes round and smooth. Finishes with excellent length and juicy lift.

Bellone is one of Italy’s least-known and yet best native white wine grapes of Italy, it has the capacity, rare in most wine grapes save for Riesling and only a few others, to give both classically dry and sweet wines of world-class quality. Factor in that it also has high enough acidity that you can make sparkling wines with it and you begin to realize this wine grape is a gem. Long grown in the countryside of Lazio surrounding Rome and nearby towns such as Cori, Bellone is making a timid comeback but deserves even better. That a forward-thinking, successful winery like Casale del Giglio believed enough in the variety to want to start making a wine with it (when it previously never used to, given that the winery and its vineyards are located outside of the historical Bellone wine production area) is a clearcut sign of the confidence the grape variety and its wines now inspire. Astute readers will take note that Casale del Giglio is an amazingly successful winery that produces some of Italy’s best value wines, all of which clearly showcase the grape variety they are made with and offer fantastic drinking without costing an arm and a leg. Drinking window: 2024-2026.  Nov 4, 2024