| Producer | Casale del Giglio |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Lazio |
| Varietal | Biancolella |
| Vintage | 2021 |
| Sku | 1129382 |
| Size | 750ml |
Tasting Notes: The Casale del Giglio Faro della Guardia is a pale yellow color with a greenish hue in the glass. An intricate perfume of hawthorn blossom, ripe golden peach and fresh apricot is present. The palate is flinty and fresh, reminiscent of the ‘volcanic – calcareous’ vineyard soils and sea breezes that sustain the vine. A lingering fruitiness on the finish and a hint of citrus.
This white wine is produced exclusively from Biancolella grapes, a typical variety from central Italy and the islands. A native of Italy’s Campania region, the Biancolella grape was introduced to the Island of Ponza from the Island of Ischia (in the Bay of Naples) during the 18th century, when the city was ruled by the Bourbon monarchs.
Cultivation of the grape in the Lazio region is authorized exclusively on the Island of Ponza where it grows at the base of a sheer sea cliff surmounted by the imposing lighthouse, ‘Il Faro della Guardia’. Built in 1886, the lighthouse rises 112 metres above sea level.
Its rotating beam of white light has a range of 24 nautical miles and a mainly southerly sweep through 225 degrees.The deepest part of the Tyrrhenian Sea, the trench known as ‘La Fossa del Tirreno’, lies some eleven miles to the southwest of the lighthouse rock.
Estate History: As a child the fields of the family estate, Casale del Giglio, were nothing more to Antonio Santarelli than a place where he could spend carefree; but all that changed when he joined his father Dino in the family business. By then, a shrewd twenty-five-year-old, he knew instinctively that their unconventional land in the Agro Pontino valley, some 30 miles south of Rome, offered a unique opportunity to have free rein and experiment with the planting of close to 60 different experimental vines.
