Italy · Umbria

Antinori (Castello della Sala)

Castello della Sala is the Antinori family's Umbrian estate in the Orvieto Classico zone, acquired in 1940 and transformed from bulk wine production into one of Italy's most distinctive white wine estates by winemaker Renzo Cotarella beginning in the 1980s. The estate is best known for Cervaro della Sala and Muffato della Sala — a late-harvest botrytized wine from Grechetto and other varieties that has become Italy's benchmark noble rot wine. At auction, 144 lots have traded at an average of $414, ranging from $20 to $3,383. The Muffato della Sala averages $682 across 36 lots, with the $3,383 ceiling reflecting large-format or library bottles of exceptional botrytis vintages. San Giovanni Classico Superiore averages $154 across 67 lots. Muffato della Sala in strong botrytis years — 1997, 2005, 2013, 2016 — has received scores of 95-98 from Italian specialists. Cervaro della Sala, not prominently featured here, is separately regarded as Italy's finest expression of Umbrian Chardonnay-Grechetto blending.