【A powerful collaboration between the Gaja and Graci families, the "kings" of Italian winemaking】
【Sourced from the southern slopes of Mount Etna, the volcanic soil imparts a unique mineral flavor】
【Production limited to approximately 40,000 bottles】
【Vinous 94 pts】【Wine Advocate 93+pts】
ZTI043 IDDA Sicilia (by Gaja) 2023
Price: $440/btl
Type：White Wine
Grape Varieties / ingredient：100% Carricante
Region：Sicily Etna
ABV：13%
Volume：750ml
Vinous 94 pts
"The 2023 Bianco demands attention with a beguiling bouquet that blends crushed stones, sesame seeds and curry leaves with nectarines and lemon peel. It opens with a pretty inner sweetness contrasted by a mass of savoury minerals and zesty acidity as ripe fruit cascades. The 2023 tapers dramatically, long and savoury. A sour citrus note forces the mouth to salivate, while notes of candied lime and a tart Granny Smith apple concentration slowly fade away. In a word: fantastic."
Wine Advocate 93+ pts
"A pure expression of Carricante, the Idda 2023 Sicilia Bianco shows citrusy notes, some freshly cut grass, honey and creamy almond. This native grape from the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna is usually quite sharp and steely in presentation, but this bottle from the Gaja and Graci winemaking team offers more textural heft and overall fruit weight. When you look deeper, you might find Sicilian tones of bergamot and caper blossom."
IDDA is an inspiring collaboration between two renowned winemaking families—the GAJA family, a giant from Italy's Piedmont region, and the prestigious GRACI estate from Etna, Sicily. Angelo Gaja's connection to Mount Etna dates back to the 1990s when his friend, Giacomo Tachis, a winemaker who has made outstanding contributions to Italian wine, introduced him to the magnificence and excellence of Mount Etna in Sicily. Although Angelo Gaja had already begun to take an interest in it, he was busy with several new family projects in Tuscany at the time, including the construction of the Piedmont winery and the first vintage production of Château Camarónda. Later, Angelo Gaja met Alberto Graci, a renowned wine producer in the Etna region. Based on a shared love of the land and similar winemaking philosophies—to produce high-quality wines with elegance, complexity, and potential—the like-minded individuals partnered in 2016 to establish Idda Winery, marking the first collaboration between the Gaja family and a winery.
"Idda" is a respectful term for "she" in the Sicilian dialect. Just as Sicilians revere and admire Mount Etna as a mother, she is more than just a volcano; she possesses a identity and personality, sometimes angry and capricious, yet still nurturing and protecting the land, upon whom all Sicilians depend.
The Etna region has an extraordinary history, so much so that it was the first region in Italy, after Barolo and Barbaresco, to implement a vineyard classification system (MGA; Menzione Geografica Aggiuntiva classification) for its red wines, and the first to implement the MGA classification for its white wines.
Angelo Gaja Winery took an unconventional approach in this region. While most developed vineyards are concentrated on the northern slopes of Etna, Gaja and Graci focused on the potentially fertile southern slopes of the volcano, also known as "Rebellious Etna." Gaja believes the southern slopes' temperature and altitude provide wines with a more elegant structure, retaining bright, balanced acidity, and resulting in more concentrated yields—ideal for elegant wines with aging potential. This perfectly embodies Angelo Gaja's consistent spirit of challenge, innovation, and rebellion.
