Sip With the Stars: Meet Planeta, the Sicilian Vineyard Featured in HBO’s ‘White Lotus’

HBO’s “White Lotus” is wrapping up its second season this weekend after charming audiences with its satirical quips and extravagantly rich protagonists. The season’s much-anticipated finale airs at 9 p.m. EST on HBO and HBO Max this Sunday.

For individuals who haven’t already binged, the scripted sequence follows the weird trip romps of a number of rich people. This system’s namesake luxurious lodge chain is about at a tropical vacation spot in Hawaii in season one, whereas the second installment is about in Sicily.

It’s a setting recognized for its distinctive wine types and more and more fashionable standing as a trip spot, so it’s solely becoming that vino flows freely all through the season.

Probably the most unrealistic factor about White Lotus is the truth that all these 30-something’s can get ridiculously wine drunk each night time and performance fairly usually the following day.

They need to be bed-ridden for 24-48 hours minimal after these drunken escapades.

— Josh Tomjack (@TomJoshJack) December 5, 2022

The sequence’ finest and most notable portrayal of wine thus far takes place in episode 5, the place an prosperous group of 4 “mates” sips at a winery in Etna.

“Apparently, the wine has, like, a bunch of volcanic minerals in it,” Daphne (performed by (Meghann Fahy) gushes previous to the group’s day journey. Because the vineyard is positioned close by to the lively volcano Mount Etna, there’s reality in her assertion. The Etna DOC — one of many first acknowledged wine areas in Sicily, established in 1968 — is thought for its volcanic soils, which result in mineral-driven wines — although this doesn’t essentially promise glowing pores and skin and nails, because the fictional Daphne suggests.

As soon as the group arrives on the picturesque winery, pressure ensues over a number of glasses. The scenes have been truly filmed on-site on the Planeta Sciaranuova Vineyard, in line with Individuals. The family-owned and -operated vineyard presents balanced Chardonnays and exceptionally advanced reds, amongst quite a few others. Seventeen generations of the Planeta household cultivated the Sicilian land in numerous varieties, lastly opening a winery in 1985 beneath Diageo administration. The vineyard focuses on sustainable manufacturing for the long-term.

In 2020, two wines from the Etna space have been featured in VinePair’s Prime 50 Wines listing: Tornatore Etna Rosso 2017 and Giovanni Rosso Etna Bianco DOC 2018. Wines particularly from Planeta scored pretty excessive when beforehand reviewed by VinePair, scoring within the low-to-mid 90s out of 100.

White wine flows as Daphne and Cameron (Theo James) canoodle on the desk, guaranteeing enough awkwardness amongst an uncomfortable Harper (Aubrey Plaza) and Ethan (Will Sharp). The server pours them glasses of Etna Bianco, a fragile straw-colored liquid which Harper promptly knocks again.

Whereas she slurps down the wine with the convenience of a school pupil slinging Barefoot, it’s a remarkably tasteful vino retailing for roughly $20-$30. Reasonably priced and deliciously juicy, the mineral-forward wine is a superb addition to any watch get together.

This scene isn’t the only instance of wine sipping on “White Lotus” — and in anticipation of the juicy finale, it more than likely received’t be the final.

Trying ahead to the season’s conclusion? Now’s the right time to select up a “White Lotus”-inspired bottle, equivalent to these stunning suggestions from Planeta.

Comfortable sipping!