IGT White

Castello della Sala Conte della Vipera

Castello della Sala
Grapes
Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon
Denomination
Umbria IGT
Region
Umbria
ABV
12%

Antinori's Umbrian white from Castello della Sala: 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Semillon grown on marine-fossil soils near Orvieto. Steel-fermented with no malolactic, it pours grapefruit, lychee and lime over a saline, mineral finish.

Best price
£27.70

2024 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery usually £16.90, free on 5 bottles

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Vintages 2025 2024 2023

Prices read daily from 7 UK retailers. We earn a commission on some links; it never changes the order.

Where to buy Conte della Vipera

£27.70 best price · 7 retailers in stock · checked 28 Oct 2026

Stock is shown where the retailer publishes it, offers are sorted by price, and unavailable offers can’t be clicked.

Vino.com Best price 2024 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery usually £16.90, free on 5 bottles Code WINE6R8T: £17 off your first wine order with £180 minimum spend, until 13 Jan 2028
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£27.70 £36.93/L
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Svinando Best price 2024 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery £8.90, free on 4 bottles
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£28.20 £37.60/L
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XtraWine Best price 2025 · 75cl · checked 28 Oct · Delivery charge shown at checkout
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£30.00 £40.00/L
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Vinissimus Best price Save 10% 2024 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery charges may apply
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£31.91 was regular price £35.45 £42.55/L
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Millesima Best price 2024 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery £20, free over £250
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£32.70 £43.60/L
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Hedonism Wines Best price 2024 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery from £8.95, free over £250
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£40.00 £53.33/L
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Orchard Wines Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 27 Oct · Delivery £6.99, free on 4 bottles
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£47.50 £63.33/L
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Unavailable (1)
XtraWine Best price 2024 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery charge shown at checkout
Out of stock
£28.00 £37.33/L
Out of stock

Stock status is read from each retailer’s page once a day and may lag.

Tasting Notes

Grapefruit, lychee and lime: Conte della Vipera in the glass

Antinori ferments this Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon blend in steel and blocks the second, softer fermentation, so the citrus and tropical fruit stay vivid and the acidity stays taut.

Tasted by
ItalianWines editorial
Tasted on
12 June 2026
Vintage in glass
2024
Source
Drinker consensus · confidence Medium
Typical of Sauvignon Blanc
Body Light / Full
Tannins Smooth / Grippy
Sweetness Dry / Sweet
Acidity Soft / Crisp
Nose

Pink grapefruit and lychee lead, the markers Antinori lists for the 2024, with lime and a green, gooseberry edge from the 80% Sauvignon Blanc. Citrus and tropical fruit define it, glass after glass.

GrapefruitGrapefruit
LimeLime
GooseberryGooseberry
LycheeLychee
PineapplePineapple
White peachWhite peach
Wet stonesWet stones
Palate

The wine is fermented in stainless steel with the second, softer fermentation blocked. It stays taut and crisp. White peach and pineapple from the Semillon fill a medium body. The fruit sits on a salty, wet-stone base from the estate's fossil-rich clay soils.

Finish

The finish is long and citrus-fresh. It closes on passion fruit and a light stony lift that is the wine's signature.

Overall

This is a benchmark Umbrian white from Antinori's Castello della Sala, and a well-liked one. It is best inside three to four years while the aromatics are bright. Wine Spectator scored the 2018 vintage 90 points.

Drink now Best by 2028
Live UK pricing

Where to buy Castello della Sala Conte della Vipera

Stocked across UK and EU merchants at roughly 27 to 35 pounds a bottle, with the 2023 and 2024 vintages both currently listed.

Best price · 75 cl · 2024 £27.70 at Vino.com
Price spread · 75cl · 2024 £27.70 - £40.00 Across 5 UK retailers with 75cl · 2024 in stock
Retailers · 75cl · 2024 5UK 5 in stock
Vintages live 2025 · 2024 · 2023 Current release: 2025
Per-litre (75cl · 2024 basis) £36.93 Lowest current 75cl · 2024 offer
Last checked 28 Oct 2026 Refreshed once every 24 hours
Other vintages and formats: 2 price lines

75cl · 2023: £47.50, 1 UK retailer

75cl · 2025: £30.00, 1 UK retailer

Wine fit score

How Conte della Vipera scores for Italian-wine fit

This is Antinori's international Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon blend, so it rates high for food and everyday drinking and lower for long cellaring.

Best with food 8.4/10

High acidity and a citrus-and-salt profile pair across shellfish, fresh cheese and herb-led dishes; a flexible food white.

Best intro to this style 7.8/10

Fruit-forward, low-tannin and easy to read, with familiar grapefruit and tropical notes, though it is an international blend rather than a native Italian grape.

Best value 7.0/10

At roughly 27 to 35 pounds it sits mid-pack for a named-estate Italian white, and a Wine Spectator 90 for the 2018 argues it earns the price.

Best everyday bottle 5.5/10

An easy, food-friendly pour, but at 27 pounds and up it is a step above a midweek everyday white.

Best for an occasion 5.5/10

A recognised Antinori white that dresses up a dinner, though as an Umbria IGT it lacks the prestige tier of a DOCG for a marquee occasion.

Best for cellar 3.0/10

Built fresh in steel with no oak, no second fermentation and no ageing mandate; drink inside three to four years rather than cellar.

Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.

Denomination Compliance Snapshot

Umbria in five fields

A compact view of what the Umbria denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.

Allowed grapes
63 varieties listed
This bottle: Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon.
Minimum ageing
Recorded by producer
Disciplinare ageing rule not yet recorded.
Region / area
Umbria
Style
IGT · Umbria
Classification
IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica)
What that means →
Vintages

2023 and 2024: two steel-fermented Umbrian whites

Antinori's vintage reports describe a wetter 2023 spring and a hotter, swing-heavy 2024 summer, both picked at optimal acidity from late August.

2025 Current release
Best price
£30.00
Retailers
1 in stock
2024 Previous release
Best price
£27.70
Retailers
5 in stock
ABV
12.0%
Window
Drink now through 2028

Antinori reports a mild winter and a moderately rainy spring, then a hot, stable July and August with wide day-night swings that ripened the grapes gradually. Sauvignon Blanc came in late August, Semillon mid-September, healthy and at peak maturity.

2023 Previous release
Best price
£47.50
Retailers
1 in stock
ABV
12.0%
Window
Drink now through 2027

A wetter 2023 spring slowed budbreak by about a week, then a warm late July and August with good day-night swings brought the fruit to optimal acidity. A fresh, citrus-driven vintage to drink young.

2024 Previous release
Best price
£27.70
Retailers
5 in stock
ABV
12.0%
Window
Drink now through 2028

Antinori reports a mild winter and a moderately rainy spring, then a hot, stable July and August with wide day-night swings that ripened the grapes gradually. Sauvignon Blanc came in late August, Semillon mid-September, healthy and at peak maturity.

Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.

The disciplinare, the place, the label

Why Antinori's Umbrian white drinks above its price

Conte della Vipera comes off the 229-hectare Castello della Sala estate near Orvieto, where fossil-rich clay and a wide day-night swing sharpen white grapes.

01

DOC, DOCG, IGT: what the badges mean

Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.

Umbria is in the IGT tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.

02

The denomination rules, in detail

  • Allowed grapes. 63 varieties listed in the disciplinare
  • Tasting panel. No mandatory pre-release tasting
03

Region and area context

Umbria IGT is the region-wide label, so the grapes can come from anywhere in Umbria.

The zone the estate stands in The producer

Made at Castello della Sala, Ficulle. Directions

04

Reading the label

  • Castello della SalaProducer / estate
  • Sauvignon Blanc · SemillonGrape varieties
  • Umbria IGTGeographic indication and quality tier
  • 2025Vintage (year of harvest)
  • Imbottigliato all’origineEstate-bottled
05

What sits behind the price of Conte della Vipera

Tracked from
£27.70
Direction
Mostly cost up
Drivers
4 up / 2 down
Main factor
Antinori's Castello della Sala estate fruit, hand-harvested
  1. 01

    Antinori's Castello della Sala estate fruit, hand-harvested

    Cost up

    All grapes come off Antinori's 229-hectare Orvieto estate and are hand-picked in two passes, late-August Sauvignon then mid-September Semillon, dearer than machine-picked bulk fruit.

  2. 02

    High-altitude marine-fossil vineyards at 250 to 350m

    Cost up

    Vines sit at 250 to 350 metres on fossil-rich clay with wide day-night swings, a slower-ripening site that lifts quality and cost over valley-floor Umbrian whites.

  3. 03

    Temperature-controlled steel, no oak

    Cost down

    Fermentation in stainless steel, with the second, softer fermentation blocked, avoids the barrel and long cellar-ageing costs of an oaked white, holding the price near 27 to 35 pounds.

  4. 04

    Umbria IGT, not a DOCG

    Cost down

    As an IGT blend rather than a controlled denomination it carries no release-tasting or extended-ageing rules, keeping it well below Antinori's Tuscan flagships.

  5. 05

    Antinori brand and 13,000-plus reviews

    Cost up

    A globally distributed Antinori label with a large, well-liked following supports a premium over anonymous supermarket Sauvignon Blanc.

  6. 06

    UK duty and VAT

    Cost up

    UK still-wine duty of 2.67 pounds a bottle plus 20% VAT adds roughly 8 pounds to a 30-pound shelf price before the retailer's own margin.

01

Antinori's Castello della Sala estate fruit, hand-harvested

Cost up

All grapes come off Antinori's 229-hectare Orvieto estate and are hand-picked in two passes, late-August Sauvignon then mid-September Semillon, dearer than machine-picked bulk fruit.

Food Pairing

Sauvignon acidity, saline finish: dishes that fit this white

The wine's grapefruit cut and wet-stone edge bridge to herbs, fresh cheese and raw shellfish far better than to heavy, oak-driven cooking.

Acidity matching Strong match

Tomato, basil and vinaigrette

Blocking the second, softer fermentation leaves the acidity high and vertical, so it lifts ripe tomato and cuts olive-oil dressings without going flat. The grapefruit core keeps fresh salads bright.

Try with: Insalata Caprese · Trofie al pesto · green salads · More pairings →

Aromatic bridge Strong match

Green herbs and pesto

Sauvignon Blanc's gooseberry and cut-grass notes run straight into basil, while the Semillon's tropical edge softens the join. It echoes herb-led cooking rather than fighting it.

Try with: Trofie al pesto · Insalata Caprese · herb salads · More pairings →

Salt balance Good match

Oysters and raw shellfish

The wet-stone, salty edge the estate draws from its fossil-rich soils matches briny shellfish, and the citrus works like a squeeze of lime over the plate.

Try with: Oysters · Sashimi · Ceviche

Fat cutting Good match

Fresh and creamy cheeses

High acidity slices through mozzarella and young goat cheese, resetting the palate between bites where a rounder, oaked white would clog.

Try with: Insalata Caprese · burrata · goat cheese salad · More pairings →

Body matching Good match

Delicate white fish

A medium body and gentle 12% alcohol sit level with steamed sea bass and other lean fish, supporting them without flattening the dish.

Try with: Steamed sea bass · Sashimi · Nigiri Sushi · More pairings →

Avoid Clash

Chilli heat and heavy oak

The high acidity sharpens fiery chilli rather than cooling it, and there is no oak weight here to stand up to smoky, slow-cooked red meat. Steer those plates to a tannic Italian red like Aglianico instead.

Skip with: vindaloo · Sichuan hotpot · barbecue brisket · Pairing guide →

Drinking + cellar

How long to keep Conte della Vipera

Built without oak or a second, softer fermentation, this is an early-drinking aromatic white at its best inside three to four years of the harvest while the citrus is bright.

Decanting
Not needed

Pour it straight from the bottle.

Serving temperature
8-12°C

Aim for the cooler end on a warm day; warmer end opens up more aromatics.

Cellar potential
Low

Built fresh in steel with no oak, no second fermentation and no ageing mandate; drink inside three to four years rather than cellar.

Buy now or wait?
Buy now

£27.70 for a 75cl bottle of the 2024, at Vino.com, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.

Sources & trust

Sources behind this Conte della Vipera page

Prices & stock

Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 28 Oct 2026, 09:05 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.

Confidence · High
Tasting notes

Drawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic. Drinkers score it 4.1 out of 5 from 13,332 ratings on Vivino.

Confidence · Medium
Appellation rules & ageing

From the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.

Confidence · High
Why it costs what it costs

Our reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.

Confidence · Medium
Drink window & cellar potential

Style guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.

Confidence · Medium
Related

Conte della Vipera: producer, grapes and Umbria

Producer
Castello della Sala Umbria
Grapes
Sauvignon Blanc Semillon
Denomination
Umbria IGT
Region
Umbria Region guide

Common Questions

It is a blend of 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillon grown on Antinori's Castello della Sala estate in Umbria. The Sauvignon drives the citrus and grassy notes; the Semillon adds soft tropical fruit and body.

No. Antinori ferments it in stainless steel and blocks the second, softer fermentation to keep the wine fresh and aromatic, so there is no oak character. Expect grapefruit, lychee and a salty, stony finish instead.

Its high acidity and salty, wet-stone edge suit raw shellfish, sashimi, fresh tomato and mozzarella, basil pesto and citrus-cured fish. Avoid fiery chilli heat and heavy oak-driven dishes, which fight its bright, unoaked style.

Drink it within three to four years of the vintage while the citrus and tropical fruit are vivid. It is built as a fresh, early-drinking white rather than one to cellar for the long term.

It typically sells for around 27 to 35 pounds in the UK. It is an Umbria IGT white from Castello della Sala, Antinori's estate near Orvieto, about 18 kilometres from the town and close to the Tuscan border.

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Conte della Vipera
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