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10 Super-Refreshing Island Wines

10 Super-Refreshing Island Wines

By Food & Wine

Updated August 23, 2017

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Credit: Domaine Abbatucci

From Santorini to Sardinia, Ray Isle goes island-hopping across the Mediterranean to find the season’s best sips.

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2015 Mandrarossa Fiano Costa Dune ($11)

Credit: Courtesy of Palm Bay International

Fiano has been grown in southern Italy as far back as the Roman Empire.In Sicily, it often takes on bright green apple flavors, as this wine shows.

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2015 Argiolas Costamolino ($15)

Credit: Courtesy of The Winebow Group

Founded in 1938, Sardinia’s Argiolas makes everything from super-high-end reds to this crisp, citrus-zesty Vermentino.

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2015 Cantine Colosi Grillo ($15)

Credit: Abby Hocking / Food & Wine

Sicily’s Colosi is actually located on Salina, an even smaller island in the Aeolian archipelago. Its Grillo (a local grape) has tangy pineapple notes.

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2016 Morgante Bianco Di Morgante ($15)

Credit: Courtesy of The Winebow Group

This white wine happens to be made from the Sicilian red grape Nero D’Avola. The juice is quickly pressed off the grape skins, so the wine stays golden in hue, but keeps some of Nero’s strawberry-like flavor.

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2015 Pala I Fiori Vermentino ($18)

Credit: Courtesy of Pala

Sardinia’s Mario Pala farms his grapes organically for this lovely Vermentino: Think spicy melon flavors with a briny finish. Our favorite with raw oysters.

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2015 Los Bermejos Malvasía Seco ($19)

Credit: Courtesy of David Bowler Wine

Vines in the Canary Islands, planted in pits in its volcanic crust, produce fine, chalky whites such as this one. Drink with grilled swordfish.

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2016 Domaine Sigalas Assyrtiko/Athiri ($22)

Credit: Courtesy of Domaine Sigalas

On Greece’s Santorini, vintners weave their vines into basket shapes to protect the grapes from fierce winds. The happy result: a thrillingly crisp white with a stony end.

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2014 Cusumano Alta Mora Etna Bianco ($25)

Credit: Cusumano s.r.l.

Sicily’s Mt. Etna is a risky place to grow grapes (it erupted in February), but the payoff is in wines like this pear-scented white.

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2015 Yves Leccia Île De Beauté Blanc ($27)

Credit: Yves Leccia

This finely wrought Corsican white’s lemony fruit has a seaside salinity; it’s intense, but magically weightless.

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2015 Domaine Comte Abbatucci Cuvée Faustine Blanc ($38)

Credit: Domaine Abbatucci

Jean-Charles Abbatucci plays traditional Corsican songs to his vines, and why not? Maybe that’s the reason wines such as this honey-scented Vermentinu are so brilliant.

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