1989 Tenuta Frassitelli d’Ambra Biancolella dell’Isola
d’Ischia 

For those lucky enough to visit Ischia in
the spring, summer or fall, Tenuta Frassitelli offers one of the world’s ten
most beautiful vineyards, clasping the crooked crags up on Ischia’s almost 2000
ft. high Mt. Epomeo. As you stand right above Frassitelli,&nbsp;you'll&nbsp;marvel at a
sea of intense green vines hanging out over a mesmerizingly blue sea , and will
have your gaze wander over the Mediterrranean towards the islands&nbsp;of Capri and
Ventotene before you. Beautiful, yes, but very steep: so steep in fact that
grapes picked from vines growing in the vineyard’s upper reaches need to be
brought down by a monorail train, as humans and donkeys would never be able to
manage. Frassitelli is the island’s most famous cru for Biancolella, a native
grape that gives lovely lemony wines characterized by noteworthy saline bite
and complicating hints of white flowers and botanical herbs. Wines that few
realize can age remarkably well: in fact, my last 1989 is still a beauty. This
now 26 year-old white wine is still clean and lively, offering notes of faded
flowers and fresh stone fruit along with Biancolella’s telltale saline edge. In
my line of work, I need to study how wines evolve and have enough cellar space
to hang on to bottles as long as needed, but you won’t need to, as Biancolella wines
offer lovely liquid refreshment already in their first year of life! 90/Drinking window: 2015.

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1430749381076-biancolella+d%27ambra++2+-+Copy+%282%29.JPG"> -- Ian d’Agata

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