Raphael is known as the “patron saint of travelers and ‘happy meetings’.” There are not many wines more fitting to drink while one travels nor to share in happy meetings than a chilled glass of rosé. It is a wine meant to be shared with good company and sharing in the great times that spring and summer so often bring. It is known that Italian rosés (read rosato) are often heavy handed and dark in color. This strays from that summation and brings a touch of the Côte d’Azur to Sicily. Previous vintages were a blend of mostly Zibibbo with a touch of Syrah, but in 2021, it was flipped on its head. This blend is mostly Syrah with a touch of Moscato, lending a floral aromatic quality to this light rosé.
The grapes were all handpicked and brought back to the cellar for immediate pressing. The musts fermented together in stainless steel at 15 deg C, after a static sedimentation at 5 deg C. Fermentation was carried out for 15 days, after which the wine aged for a little more than two months in tank prior to being bottled with a light fining, coarse filtration and reasonable addition of sulfur.