97 Points Decanter & "Best in Show" at Decanter World Wine Awards
Strange to say, no Passito di Pantelleria has yet featured in our Best in Show selection, so we’re delighted to rectify the omission this year with this 2023 wine. It’s made, of course, with Muscat of Alexandria grapes (locally called Zibibbo) which are laid out on mats in the sun after harvest to dessicate and dry for about four weeks. The wine is a rich golden sunset orange. Oranges, too, set the tone for its astonishing, perfume-like aromas: once smelled, never forgotten. On the palate it is thick, liquorous and unctuous, though still bright with that intense orange fruit. In some sweet wines, sheer intensity of sugar substitutes for complexity. Not here. It’s almost as if the force of Pantelleria’s near-African sunlight has engraved the wine with layers and lessons of its own. 
 
94+ Points Vinous
Exotic yet remarkably fresh, the 2023 Ben Ryé bursts from the glass with a seductive blend of white raisins, minty herbs, poached peaches and tropical citrus. It is weighty, rich and harmonious throughout, coming across as sweet but not cloyingly so. Ultra-ripe pit fruit combines with candied lemon and a crisp mineral tinge that adds form toward the close. Dramatically long, the 2023 leaves a resonance of sour melon and an air of confectionary spice while cleaning up well, leaving the palate completely refreshed.
 
Winemaker Notes
Ben Ryé takes its name from the Arabic for “Son of the Wind” because of the ever-present breeze in Pantelleria which sweeps through the vines. And the fragrances that the island’s wind carries with it are so intense as to be almost palpable. The designer label celebrates the love, care and effort behind the heroic viticulture of this unique and captivating island. A sweet and enveloping portrait that reveals the wine's true essence.