Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

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Inzolia, sometimes spelt Insolia, white grape variety grown mainly in Sicily and to a much more limited extent in Tuscany, where it is known as Ansonica Bianca, under which name the 2010 vine census lists an Italian total of 6,132 ha/15,050 acres. Its genetic roots seem to be in western Sicily where it was valued as a relatively aromatic ingredient, with Grillo, in top-quality marsala. Today it is more often encountered as a varietal, or blended with the much more common catarratto, in dry white table wines. The best examples show a certain nuttiness, the worst could do with more acid and more flavour.