The best wines of Elba island: which are and where to taste them

A holiday (it is appropriate to say) is also enjoyed at the table. You already intend to taste the typical dishes. But don’t you want to blame the chefs who will prepare them and drink water? To fully enjoy the taste of these dishes, you must accompany them with one of the best wines of Elba island.

The tradition of the island

Elba can boast a very ancient wine tradition. That of the terraced vineyards that reach almost to the sea is one of the natural spectacles offered on the island to its visitors. A winemaking tradition that has been preserved to this day, leaving some excellent wines that you absolutely must taste during a holiday.

Some of the wines of Elba island are denomination of controlled origin. In particular in this case they are robust, table wines, ideal to be drunk while eating the dried cod or the burrita, just to give some examples.

Red and white wines

• Red wines. Among the red wines Sangioveto or Sangiovese stand out (made up of at least 85% of Sangiovese, a wine with good tannins and a high acidity) and the red Elba (ruby red in color, dry taste and a very fruity aroma, composed for at least 60% from Sangiovese grape variety).
• White wines. Passing instead to white wines, the Procanico (local name of the Trebbiano di Toscana vine) and the white Ansonica peep out. The latter is the true king of Elba wines.

Ansonica

This is the traditional grape variety of the island of Elba. The Ansonica grapes were and are still cultivated in the terracing to which we have previously mentioned. In ancient times, the grapes were crushed with their feet in the so-called “palmenti”, tanks, often dug into the rock, communicating with each other and made near the vineyards.

Ansonica wine, straw-colored, could be considered as the true flavor of Elba island and embodies all the characteristics: the taste is dry and at the same time harmonious, with a very intense and enveloping, full aroma. Bottled usually in late spring, excellent to accompany fish dishes, there is also a variety (as we shall see shortly) to be served with sweets.

Dessert wines

In the kitchen of the island of Elba the sweets have a special place, and it is enough to mention the frangette, the schiacciunta or the schiaccia briaca. All delicacies to be served with one of the dessert wines:

• Ansonica passito, obtained for most of the homonymous grape;
• Moscato, produced entirely with this type of grapes subjected to drying in the air, always very sweet and soft, certainly pleasant;
• Aleatico, also in this case made entirely from one type of grape, with a red color, a very sweet taste, a particularly intense and fruity bouquet.

What to eat

As we anticipated, the wines of Elba are the necessary accompaniment to a lunch or dinner dedicated to taste the culinary specialties of the island. If you want to know what to eat on Elba island, the dishes to try are absolutely (at least) these four:

• Stoccafisso alla riese;
• Gurguglione;
• Cacciucco;
• Schiaccia briaca.

Whatever the tourist destination of the island you will be staying in, you will have no trouble finding typical restaurants that will prepare them for you.

Cellars and tastings

If you are looking for a more easy solution to try the wines, you can choose one of the different cellars of Elba island that offer tastings of their products: if you want to give some suggestions, we can recommend Antonio Arrighi, the Faccenda, the Sapereta and the Mazzarri winery.

These are the wines of Elba island to drink tasting the typical dishes. You can find them a little in all the cellars of Italy but, to taste the true flavor, you have to taste it necessarily in its homeland, and to do so you just have to book your ferry trip to Elba.