Island wines

To get into a sunny holiday mood, wines from Mediterranean islands were on our WINELIFE tasting table last month. Over 70 came in and Magda van der Rijst, together with wine professional and islander Milton Verseput, selected the most delicious ones. Wines to get the summer off to a good start. - TEXT + IMAGE MAGDA VAN DER RIJST

Island wines

An island is a unit located somewhere separate from the motherland in the sea. Some at most an hour's boat ride from the mainland, while for others you have to fly for hours. Apart from that distance, an island always has something special, even when it comes to wine. This is due to the specific terroir and the indigenous grape varieties found there. And probably also to the islanders themselves.

Approach & criteria

We asked importers and wine sellers to send in wines from Mediterranean islands. White, red, rosé, still and sparkling; all were welcome, as long as dry and appropriate for summer. The majority of the 70 entries were white wines, with all but a single rosé, the rest were red. Sicily was well represented, but wines from the Azores, Corsica, Hvar, Santorini and Sardinia also made an appearance.

Tasting

As always, the wines were poured blind, this time in Zalto's Universal glass. The white wines at 10 to 12°C, the reds at around 16°C. We tasted the wines in series. Island by island, grape variety by grape variety. Most of the wines were from 2020 and 2021, and they also stood together. The tasting portraits were divided into white and red, and by island.

(…)

Curious about the whole article? You can read it in WINELIFE edition 79. Order this one here!

Don't want to miss a single edition? Subscribe then subscribe to WINELIFE Magazine now!

Want to stay up to date with the best articles? Follow WINELIFE magazine on Instagram, Facebook and sign up for our fortnightly newsletter.