A Sicilian white from Planeta's organic Ulmo vineyard, blending 85% Grecanico with 15% Sauvignon Blanc. White peach, melon and lively citrus over a flinty, saline core, fresh yet silky after six months on fine lees. A food-friendly Menfi DOC.
Alastro is 85% Grecanico with 15% Sauvignon Blanc from Planeta's Ulmo vineyard at Sambuca di Sicilia, rested six months on fine lees. Producer and drinkers agree on white peach, citrus and a flinty, saline core.
Aromatics lead with white peach, melon and Williams pear over lively lemon and grapefruit, the citrus lift drinkers mention most often. Above the fruit sit yellow flowers and French honeysuckle honey, with a green, herbal boxwood edge from the 15% Sauvignon Blanc. A flinty, almost saffron-like mineral note signals the limey, pebbly Ulmo soils.
Grapefruit
Lemon
Acacia
Melon
Pear
White peach
Flint
HoneyThe palate is fresh and vibrant, carried by bright Grecanico acidity, yet creamy and silky from six months on fine lees in steel. White peach and melon fill the middle while a saline, stony minerality keeps it savoury rather than soft. At 12.5% it stays light and easy to drink.
The finish is clean and savoury, with citrus pith and that flinty Sambuca di Sicilia minerality lingering over white-peach fruit.
One of Planeta's great classics and a dependable everyday Sicilian white: Vivino drinkers settle it around 3.7 across more than 8,000 reviews, praising its freshness and seafood-friendly cut rather than power. Drink it young as an aperitivo or with shellfish.
Current 2024 and 2025 vintages of this Menfi DOC sit between roughly £15 and £21 across UK merchants, a typical band for estate-grown Sicilian whites.
Alastro rates highest as a food and everyday white: a fresh, saline Grecanico blend at a mid-teens price that suits Sicilian seafood far more than the cellar.
Aromatic, high-acid white with saline minerality: a versatile seafood and antipasti partner at the top of the aromatic-white band.
Fresh, food-friendly and mid-teens priced: a strong midweek seafood white.
Approachable, fruit-forward expression of indigenous Sicilian Grecanico at a gentle price: an easy first step into the grape.
Lowest UK listing near 15 pounds sits around the category median for estate Sicilian whites: fair rather than a bargain.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our editorial methodology.
A compact view of what the Menfi denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
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Alastro is built for freshness, not the cellar. Vivino vintage scores cluster around 3.7 to 3.9, with the 2018 reaching the top 5% of all wines, but most bottles drink best within three years.
The newly released 2025 follows Alastro's fresh, mineral house style from the organic Ulmo vineyard. Drink over the next few years rather than cellaring.
A fresh, current-drinking Sicilian white; Vivino drinkers rate the 2024 around 3.7 across more than 200 reviews. Best enjoyed young while its citrus and saline minerality stay vibrant.
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.
Grown in Planeta's organic Ulmo vineyard at 200 to 250 metres on limey, pebbly soils, Alastro carries the Menfi DOC and the SOStain sustainability mark. It has been in production since the first 1995 vintage.
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.
Menfi is in the DOC tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.
Menfi falls within Sicily , covering Sicily.
Planeta farms Alastro under organic rules and the SOStain protocol with cover crops and hand-tended canopies, labour that lifts cost above conventional Sicilian whites.
Grapes come solely from Planeta's Ulmo vineyard at Sambuca di Sicilia rather than bought-in bulk, concentrating cost on estate viticulture.
Resting the wine six months on fine lees ties up tank space and adds cellar time before release, a step beyond fast-turnaround supermarket whites.
Produced in good volume with no costly oak programme, Alastro keeps its UK price in the mid-teens rather than the premium tier.
At 2026 HMRC rates, excise duty on a still wine in the 11.5 to 14.5% band is about 2.67 pounds a bottle before VAT, a fixed cost that weighs heavily on a sub-20-pound bottle.
Dishes that complement this wine
Alastro's bright acidity and saline minerality bridge to seafood and shellfish, from Sicilian swordfish to baked mussels and fish soups, and the citrus even cuts through sushi.
Grecanico's bright acidity and a saline, flinty mineral streak slice through grilled fish and oil-rich Sicilian seafood, refreshing the palate between bites without overwhelming delicate flesh.
Try with: Pesce spada alla Siciliana · Fregula ai frutti di mare · Brodetto alla giuliese · More pairings →
Saline minerality echoes the brine of shellfish while crisp acidity and citrus lift cleanse oily, iodine-rich bites. A light 12.5% body never competes with raw or steamed shellfish.
Try with: Cozze arraganate · Impepata di cozze · Oysters · Nigiri Sushi · More pairings →
The 15% Sauvignon Blanc adds a green, herbal boxwood note that bridges to basil, capers and lemon-dressed vegetables, while yellow-flower aromatics flatter Mediterranean antipasti.
Try with: Insalata Caprese · Pesce spada alla Siciliana · Torta pasqualina · More pairings →
A light, silky body and fresh acidity match crisp fried antipasti without weighing them down, the citrus cutting the fry while six months on fine lees give enough texture to keep pace.
Try with: Arancini · Gnocco fritto · More pairings →
Crisp Grecanico acidity cuts the richness of whipped salt cod and egg-and-greens tarts, refreshing each forkful while the saline finish keeps the pairing savoury.
Try with: Baccala Mantecato · Torta pasqualina · More pairings →
Big tannic red meats and chilli-heavy dishes overpower this light, fresh white: its 12.5% body and delicate citrus disappear against grilled red meat, spicy curries or sweet-sour sauces.
Skip with: Bistecca alla Fiorentina · Vindaloo · Sweet and sour prawns · Pairing guide →
This is an early-drinking Sicilian white rather than a keeper. Enjoy current vintages young, while the citrus and flinty minerality are at their most vibrant.
Peak around 2027. Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
Unoaked, early-drinking Menfi DOC white with no ageing requirement: built for freshness, not the cellar.
£14.80 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: 7 Jun 2026, 15:14 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 · MediumAlastro is a Sicilian white blending 85% Grecanico with 15% Sauvignon Blanc, grown organically in Planeta's Ulmo vineyard at Sambuca di Sicilia and bottled as Menfi DOC.
Expect white peach, melon and lively lemon and grapefruit citrus, with yellow-flower and honeysuckle aromatics over a flinty, saline mineral edge. Six months on fine lees give it a fresh but silky texture.
Its bright acidity and saline minerality suit seafood and shellfish: Sicilian swordfish, baked mussels, seafood fregola, fish soups and even sushi. It also lifts vegetable antipasti and legume soups.
Yes. The grapes are farmed under organic agriculture and the SOStain sustainability protocol, with cover crops and only small amounts of copper and sulphur in the Ulmo vineyard.
It is built for freshness and drinks best within about three years of the vintage, though strong years such as 2018 have held longer. Serve it well chilled.
UK listings for current vintages typically run from about £15 to £21 a bottle, placing it in the mid-range for quality Sicilian whites.
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