Donafugata Anthìlia 2007 is composed of 50% Ansonica and 50% Catarratto.  Quite honestly, we had never heard of these grapes before, which are native to Sicily and have apparently been used for making wine since ancient Roman times.  Regardless, we liked how the wine was described to us in the store — a crisp, not-too-big white, with fragrant apricot and peach scents, that constitutes a great value — and we thought it would be fun to try something new. 

In fact, the aromas and flavors of apricot were so distinct that we could easily say that we’ve never tasted anything like this in a white wine – you could almost forget that you were drinking liquid derived from grapes.  We found it to be deliciously refreshing when chilled, that it was well structured, and that it made for the perfect ”something different” bottle.  At $13, it was, indeed, a great value.

As a side-note, if you, too, should find yourself considering buying a white wine to serve chilled during one of the warm days of spring or summer ahead, but you don’t recognize either the varietal or the winemaker, we recommend using one of our trusty, no-brainer shopping techniques: paying close attention to alcohol content.  For example, we’ve found that lower alcohol content white wines (in the 12%-13.5% range) tend to be more refreshing on hot days than wines with higher alcohol levels  – obviously, by checking this information before making purchases, we’ve managed to more effectively target the types of wine that we know we’ll enjoy in warm weather.   

Where to get it: We bought our bottle at Vintage Berkeley in the East Bay.  They ship.  You can also find it using the Snooth search function under “Wine Locator” in the right hand column of this page, or by visiting wine-searcher.com or winezap.com.