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.
Antinori ferments this Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon blend in steel and blocks malolactic, so the citrus and tropical fruit stay vivid and the acidity stays taut.
Pink grapefruit and lychee lead, the markers Antinori lists for the 2024, with lime and a green, gooseberry edge from the 80% Sauvignon Blanc. Vivino drinkers reach for the same citrus and tropical descriptors across more than 13,000 ratings.
Grapefruit
Lime
Gooseberry
Lychee
Pineapple
White peach
Wet stonesFermented in stainless steel with malolactic blocked, it stays taut and crisp, white peach and pineapple from the Semillon filling a medium body. The fruit sits on a saline, wet-stone minerality the estate ties to its fossil-rich clay soils.
Long and citrus-fresh, closing on passion fruit and a light mineral lift that Antinori flags as the wine's signature.
A benchmark Umbrian white from Antinori's Castello della Sala, best inside three to four years while the aromatics are bright. Vivino rates it 4.1 across more than 13,000 reviews, and Wine Spectator scored the 2018 vintage 90 points.
Stocked across UK and EU merchants at roughly 27 to 35 pounds a bottle, with the 2023 and 2024 vintages both currently listed.
This is Antinori's international Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon blend, so it rates high for food and everyday drinking and lower for long cellaring.
High acidity and a citrus-saline profile pair across shellfish, fresh cheese and herb-led dishes; a flexible food white.
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.
At roughly 27 to 35 pounds it sits mid-pack for a named-estate Italian white, and Vivino's 4.1 plus a Wine Spectator 90 for 2018 argue it earns the price.
An easy, food-friendly pour, but at 27 pounds and up it is a step above a midweek everyday white.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our editorial methodology.
A compact view of what the Umbria denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
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Antinori's vintage reports describe a wetter 2023 spring and a hotter, swing-heavy 2024 summer, both picked at optimal acidity from late August.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Umbria falls within Umbria , covering Umbria.
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.
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.
Fermentation in stainless steel with malolactic blocked avoids the barrel and long cellar-ageing costs of an oaked white, holding the price near 27 to 35 pounds.
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.
A globally distributed Antinori label with a Vivino 4.1 from over 13,000 ratings supports a premium over anonymous supermarket Sauvignon Blanc.
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.
Dishes that complement this wine
The wine's grapefruit cut and wet-stone minerality bridge to herbs, fresh cheese and raw shellfish far better than to heavy, oak-driven cooking.
No malolactic 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 →
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 →
The wet-stone, saline minerality 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
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 →
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 →
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 →
Built without oak or malolactic, this is an early-drinking aromatic white at its best inside three to four years of the harvest while the citrus is bright.
Peak around 2026. Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
Built fresh in steel with no oak or malolactic and no ageing mandate; drink inside three to four years rather than cellar.
£26.90 is the lowest tracked offer for the current vintage and we have no signal of further discounting.
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 30 May 2026, 16:28 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighDrawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino and Wine-Searcher, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.
Confidence · MediumFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur 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 · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumIt 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 malolactic fermentation to keep the wine fresh and aromatic, so there is no oak character. Expect grapefruit, lychee and a saline, mineral finish instead.
Its high acidity and saline minerality 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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