The UK marketplace for Fiano from Sicily is dominated by Settesoli, either directly or through the wines they provide for Asda Extra Special and Tesco Finest. Moramari has, however, managed to get itself onto the shelves of a number of different retailers, and I picked up my bottle from the Co-operative for £5.40. Moramari reaches our shores courtesy of Ant and Paul, two actual chaps running an importing operation in Cheltenham called Off Piste, which has a major focus on fair trade wines. Rest assured, the Moramari was not bottled in Cheltenham – although it was bottled in Priocca, which is definitely not in Sicily when I last checked…
Fiano finds great expression in Sicily, with the grapes making the most of their Southern European location and island breezes. In the glass, the wine has a sunny, honey glow, with some light legs. The nose is rather flat and sweet, with honey dominating; there’s a lack of floral or fruit notes but this is in keeping with Fiano as a rule (or at least the Fianos that make it here – as with Pinot Grigio, a lot of the finer examples can only be enjoyed if you get on a plane and go to them). However, the palate has much more going on – honey, yes, still dominant but in a wine that has none of the muscatty viscosity that normally accompanies such a sweet taste, and in a wine that has just enough hints of both apricot and lemon that you quickly get drawn into a consumption cycle of sweet-sour-sweet-sour as you go. It’s rather lovely, but like eating sherbert lemons – some people can tolerate more than others, and I would imagine for a lot of people, this would be one glass fine, two glasses bad. Unusually for an Italian wine, this to me would actually be quite difficult to pair with food, and would likely distract, unless it was paired with Thai or something with a real chilli heat to it.
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