When you’ve lived in Australia for a while, you’ll eventually notice how many Italians – migrants or their descendants – you meet.

By then you’ll also have noticed how entrenched Italian culture, especially food and wine, is in the local landscape.

Following the major post-war waves of migration, Italy remains within the top 10 countries of birth among Australia’s overseas-born population, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

Many migrants from the post-war Italian diaspora chose to work in agriculture and several Australian wine regions – in particular the Riverina in New South Wales and King Valley in Victoria – boast numerous Italian families whose members have been making wine for generations.

Given this generational exposure and deep appreciation, it’s fascinating to see a small, adventurous group of Australians and New Zealanders travelling in the opposite direction.

I reached out to five of these mavericks, each of whom is carving a name for themselves in Italy, and often bringing a uniquely antipodean adventurous spirit to winemaking, shaking up centuries-old traditions along the way.

Jeffrey Chilcott

Tenute Cisa Asinari dei Marchesi di Grésy, Piedmont

After being part of the Kiwi hospitality scene during the 1980s, Jeffrey Chilcott moved to London to see some of the bands that had never made the long trip to New Zealand performing live.

After a three-month train trip around Europe, he ended up in Italy, where he caught the Nebbiolo bug, prompting him to knock on doors across the Langhe region until Celestino Vacca, the then president of Produttori del Barbaresco, offered him accommodation.

‘People said the Piemontesi may not be so open, but I found the opposite,’ Chilcott says.

In the early 1990s, he would meet with Giovanni Conterno and other old-guard producers to taste local and international wines.

‘New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc was alien to them as a wine style, and they struggled to get their heads around the overtly herbaceous and pungent nature,’ he says.

Chilcott later joined the historic Marchesi di Grésy. ‘I’m the cellar master at Marchesi and I do some travelling for them,’ he says. ‘I’m very close with the family and everyone else in the region.’

Considered one of Piedmont’s top producers, Marchesi di Grésy is renowned for a style rooted in tradition but ‘open to technology’.

Among its 35ha of vineyards, spread across the Langhe and Monferrato, is the monopole Martinenga, owned since 1797 and the jewel in the estate’s crown.

Considered a human encyclopaedia of vintages, Chilcott has witnessed the rise of the modernists, influencing his approach to Nebbiolo.

While he believes the variety demands patience, he acknowledges that incremental fine-tuning – particularly in tannin management and winery hygiene – has opened Barolo and Barbaresco to international audiences.

‘You know Campari? It has that dolce-amaro – bittersweet – quality, intrinsic to a lot of Italian food, and people,’ Chilcott says.

‘In the old days, Nebbiolo wasn’t always harmonious – the dolce [the fruit quality] was not always in harmony with the amaro [the tannins, which could dominate and require significant time to integrate].’

David Fletcher

Fletcher Wines, Piedmont

Born in Adelaide and now an Italian citizen, David Fletcher has always had itchy feet. He was working as a winemaker in Victoria, focused on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, when he first discovered Nebbiolo at a Barolo tasting – the wines stopped him in his tracks.

‘I jumped on a plane a year later to work the 2007 harvest at Ceretto, in the Langhe,’ he says. ‘I wanted to learn everything about Nebbiolo. I thought I might take that knowledge back to Australia – which I did to some extent – but I also fell in love with Italy.’

Fletcher founded his own label in 2009, initially buying grapes from Barolo and Barbaresco, and working out of other producers’ facilities.

It wasn’t until 2012, when he started working full-time as winemaker for Ceretto and stopped dividing his time between Australia and Italy, that he was able to base himself in the latter and fully focus on growing his label locally.

The project began modestly, with wines sold mainly in Australia. For sommeliers there it was exciting to pour a Barbaresco made by an Australian; for the people back in Piedmont, acceptance took longer.

‘There are Barolo families older than me and you put together,’ he says. ‘In Langhe, it’s a very hands-on, relationship-based business. In Australia, you just pick up the phone and someone will do things for you.’

The turning point came in 2015 with the purchase of the building that would become the winery – the dilapidated Babaresco train station, uniquely positioned in a valley surrounded by top-quality vineyards.

‘One morning I walked into the local café and a few pensioners came up to me, patting me on the back and saying I’d done something good for the community.’

Today, Fletcher farms 5.5ha organically, while also making Nebbiolo in Australia under the label of Fletcher, The Minion.

He uses open fermentations, with fully destemmed fruit, extending the ageing beyond minimum requirements in old barriques.

By ‘deconstructing the tradition’, Fletcher has developed a nuanced understanding of the territory.

These days, the only thing he really misses about Australia is his family, though he’s happy to be growing his own in a country where family remains at the heart of everything.

Zoe Johnson

JG Benda, Montalcino, Tuscany

A Sydney-based food and wine journalist with a British passport, Zoe Johnson first bridged the gap with Italy from afar, working in PR for Emilia-Romagna-based kitchen appliance company Smeg and Barilla, the world’s largest pasta producer.

In 2014, she was sent to Venice to assist Australian architects at the Biennale exhibition.

‘From there I decided to stay,’ she says. ‘I promised my dad I would come home after one year, but I never did – it’s still a problem.’

Her path into wine came almost by chance, at a moment when she was considering returning home as she approached 50.

‘I met John [Benda], my partner; he had previously worked in banking and finance in London, and had just bought some land here in Montalcino,’ she says. ‘The 2021 was our first vintage together.’

Though neither comes from a winemaking background, both share a deep love of Italian food and wine. Their 2ha sit at around 550m, higher than many local sites. The couple do everything together, from working in the vineyard to bottling.

The dry-farmed vineyards are certified organic; in the cellar, the approach is firmly minimal intervention, with no temperature control.

They look after distribution and direct-to-consumer events themselves. They only receive occasional guidance from a microbiologist from the University of Florence.

‘We are pruning now; my hand is very sore – I think I have arthritis from using normal cutters. But we’re so humbled,’ Johnson says.

‘I’m staying in Tuscany because if you find a purpose, it doesn’t matter where you are. And I found everything all in one place – the person I love, the job I love and the land I love.’

Trish Nelson

Gazzetta Wines, Lazio

A globetrotter from birth, Trish Nelson changed countries every five years, only arriving in Australia at age 15. Italy took a little longer.

‘I was working in Hong Kong in architectural design and got really interested in sustainable agriculture,’ she says.

‘I then moved back to Sydney and met Giorgio de Maria, sommelier at Berta and natural wine bar 121 BC.’ De Maria’s contagious passion for natural wine proved decisive.

When Nelson travelled to Italy to pursue a master’s degree in sustainable agriculture, she visited many of the producers whose wines had first inspired her in Australia.

An invitation to visit Cantina Giardino in Campania turned into a year and a half there, working in the vineyard and winery. This was followed by stints in viticulture and winemaking at Ajola in Orvieto and Le Coste, on lake Bolsena in northern Lazio, Europe’s largest volcanic lake.

It was there, two hours north of Rome, that she found her base in 2017: a small house and a run-down vineyard above the town, overlooking the lake.

The Gazzetta natural wines – made from organically farmed Procanico, Ansonica, Malvasia, Trebbiano Giallo, Aleatico, Sangiovese and Merlot grapes, among others – are fermented spontaneously, and made without added sulphur.

To stabilise the wines for export – including to de Maria, her Australian distributor – Nelson relies on extended maceration.

‘The tannins are natural preservatives,’ she explains, ‘and if you’re not adding anything and the pH of the wine is high – which it is here, given the volcanic soils – a few days of maceration helps.’

While awaiting Italian citizenship, Nelson admits that life isn’t a bed of roses.

‘It’s beautiful that tradition and regionality are so strong here,’ she says, ‘but as a foreigner, sometimes you feel like a fish out of water.’

Anna Martens

Vino di Anna, Etna

Having begun your career in microbiology at Petaluma in the Adelaide Hills in 1993 and enrolled in the Master of Wine programme six years later, your trajectory might seem set on a prestigious, if conventional, path.

That was certainly the case for Anna Martens, who, in 2004, was offered the position of assistant winemaker at the cult Tuscan estate Ornellaia, where she had previously worked, during the 2001 vintage, in the laboratory.

However, a chance encounter that year with Eric Narioo – founder of UK importer Les Caves de Pyrene and a key figure in the natural wine scene (and now Martens’ husband) – redirected her path to Sicily.

‘Etna was very different back in 2007,’ Martens says. ‘I was working for Andrea Franchetti at Passopisciaro. A few cult names from that versante [‘slope’] were on the rise, like Girolamo Russo and Alberto Graci.’

Martens had already been exposed to natural wine producers through Narioo, which convinced her to adopt a low-intervention approach.

The first Vino di Anna red, 95% Nerello Mascalese, 5% Nerello Capuccio (co-planted), was made in 2008.

‘Until that time, I’d always known that if something didn’t work out, I could add sulphur, enzymes, or filter everything,’ she says.

‘We made our first wine by literally putting whole bunches, with no sulphur, into two mastelloni [‘wine tubs’]. There was so much energy in the wine! Producers told us we were crazy, while to the older locals it was reminiscent of their family wine.’

Now splitting her time between London and the village of Solicchiata, on the northern slope of Etna, Martens says that returning to Sicily always resets her.

‘Every time I land in Catania, I take off my watch, drive with an Italian flair up to the winery, and soak in the luminosity of the place,’ she says.

Martens attributes a profound shift in both her approach to production and her lifestyle to what she has learned on Etna, through others and through the terroir itself.

‘I’ve been asked why I used to rush the wines,’ she says. ‘Energetic as I am, when I get to the winery, the surroundings ground me.’

Italian wines made by Antipodeans

Related articles

Michelle Cherutti-Kowal MW, Jason Millar and Stefan Neumann MS tasted 77 wines, with 5 Outstanding and 22 Highly recommended

Unoaked Italian reds: Panel tasting scores

77 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 5

Highly recommended 22

Recommended 45

Commended 5

Fair 0

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit red wines of any vintage from anywhere in Italy, made from grape varieties indigenous to the region of production, either 100% varietal or in a blend containing a minimum 85% of indigenous varieties; no vinification or ageing in oak of any type was permitted

Eschewing the oak

Wooden barrels have been used in the wine industry since Roman times, with producers commonly making use of local woods such as acacia, pine or chestnut.

Over time, oak became the preferred material due to its tight grain and abundance across Europe.

As winemakers recognised its positive influence on tannins and flavours, oak gained dominance in today’s wine industry.

Ripe black fruit flavours mixed with smoky (oak-derived) vanilla equals enjoyable drinking experiences for most consumers.

In the production of reds, winemakers use oak barrels or chips to add flavour and complexity, and to help soften tannins, which begs the question: don’t all red wines have oak?

There are more unoaked red wines made than we might initially realise; often they’re simpler, fruitier wines intended to be drunk young – Beaujolais and young Rioja being notable examples.

Yet no other country has more of an association with unoaked red wines than Italy.

The decision to not use oak is based on the desire to preserve the pure expression of a grape variety, to highlight regional terroir, or to create a fresher, more fruit-driven style.

Vessels such as stainless steel, concrete vats and clay amphorae allow for minimal intervention, letting inherent flavours shine – ‘wines without lipstick’ is how Jason Millar described these wines; completely exposed, without any beautification.

‘Wines that bring an element of joy to the drinker’

For this tasting, 17 of Italy’s 20 regions were represented. Piedmont, Tuscany and Sicily topped the list in terms of entries.

Sangiovese was the most popular variety, followed by Barbera – understandable, given that they’re two of Italy’s most planted varieties.

The main discussion among the judges was whether an unoaked wine could be more than simple and fruity. Could it be complex and have the ‘wow factor’?

The top achievers were simple but also concentrated and delicious expressions – ‘wines that bring an element of joy to the drinker’, according to Stefan Neumann MS.

Ultimately, our question was answered.

Without oak, these wines were capable of expressing purity and a true sense of place. And they certainly had that wow factor!

What to eat with unoaked Italian reds, by Fiona Beckett

So varied are these wines in terms of region and grape variety that it’s difficult to make a generalisation about wine matching, other than to focus on what kind of food unoaked Italian wines might successfully pair with in comparison with oaked wines.

By and large they’re younger, lower in alcohol and less expensive than their oaked counterparts – more for everyday or at least relaxed weekend drinking than fine dining.

In regions such as Tuscany, where red wine is predominantly an unoaked wine, it often takes the place of a white – the go-to with a homely chickpea and rosemary soup, for example, or a simple plate of pasta before moving on to a more serious wine with the meat.

Pizza is another obvious option, which isn’t to diminish these wines – it’s an underrated foil for a simple, well-made red.

With their typically pronounced acidity, unoaked reds are a natural match for salumi and, perhaps less obviously, for fish. There’s no reason why you can’t drink a light Sicilian red such as Frappato with pasta con le sarde (with sardines), for instance, or a Bardolino with some garlicky grilled prawns.

See all notes and scores from the unoaked Italian reds tasting

The judges

Unoaked Italian reds panel tasting results:

Wines were tasted blind

Related articles

My first visit to southern Italy didn’t start well. I was flying from Rome to Palermo in Sicily, and the air conditioning cut out as we ascended. I fell asleep, or passed out, and woke up drenched in sweat.

The airport was undergoing renovations and as I waited in the makeshift baggage-reclaim hall, my eye was caught by some activity.

Some locals had peeled back the flimsy metal of the improvised building to create a direct exit to the real world. They were crouching down and disappearing through it to stand outside, smoking in the hot air as they waited for their cases.

I was in a strange land – one that I didn’t understand and still don’t.

Palermo alone would be too much to grasp, a city where people spend more on their sunglasses than their scooters, where every bar is full at 2am on a Tuesday morning, where old women gather to drink Campari and soda in the afternoon in a way that’s inconceivable in England.

The problem of comparison

Wine is one way into southern Italy – a major success story, but a messy one.

The region makes everything you can think of, from oaked Chardonnay to orange wine, from Sardinia’s Vernaccia di Oristano, aged under a layer of flor yeasts in the barrel, to the lithe, sinewy reds of Nerello Mascalese from Etna.

To some, this looks like chaos; to others, it’s creativity.

Etna is the closest thing the south has to an ambassador, but even these wines tend to be positioned in relation to the north, the reds being frequently compared to Nebbiolo or called ‘the Barolo of the south’ – an epithet applied to various red wines from Italy’s islands and regions south of Rome (sometimes described as the Mezzogiorno) that prove they can play by northern rules.

The Roman writer Ovid tells us that Zeus imprisoned the titan Typhon under the island of Sicily because he couldn’t kill him. Etna is his mighty head, his splayed limbs reaching out to Messina and Noto, his legs pinned down under present-day Marsala.

The island’s earthquakes and eruptions are Typhon’s attempt to break free of his overlord. Etna, then and now, is chaos managed, destruction contained, catastrophe postponed.

Endlessly fertile despite the barren flows of lava, the ground is a rich, composty brown.

Visiting Ciro and Stef Biondi’s eponymous winery, it’s no surprise to see ancient phalluses unearthed and re-erected in their vineyards, which sit in the fertile tongues between the lava flows.

The misty ground here steams with what seems like Jurassic plenitude. Sicily doesn’t need Etna to justify it, but it has helped, even if the volcano is just one facet of wine here.

Across the island, increasingly brilliant wines are being produced from varieties such as Catarratto, Nero d’Avola and Frappato.

A reputation for greatness

Over the water, Campania (the ‘shin’ of mainland Italy) has been restoring its ancient reputation for greatness.

Falernian, a famed wine of the Roman era, was made here – the 121 BCE vintage was so famous it was still being talked about by Romans 200 years later.

And the vineyards of Pompeii, a town just south of Naples that had more wine bars than modern Hackney, are producing wine once again.

Away from the glittering Amalfi coast, Campania conceals one of Italian wine’s greatest surprises. Irpinia, the land of Taurasi, Greco di Tufo and Fiano di Avellino, is almost comically verdant.

It can get twice as much rain as London, and its fertile soils, rich in volcanic ash, sulphur and much else besides, produce world-class wines.

It’s the long-lived whites that command critical attention, but it’s with the Aglianico grape that southern Italy puts forth its most heroic red wine.

The death or glory grape

On the volcanic soils of Campania and Basilicata, Aglianico (in the form of Taurasi DOCG for the former and Aglianico del Vulture DOCG for the latter) delivers wines of Homeric scale: ambitious, grand and elemental.

A visit to Salvatore Molettieri in Taurasi isn’t for the faint-hearted.

He runs his estate with his four sons, who appear to have sprung from his thigh in his image. Aglianico isn’t a crop here, it’s a point of honour.

The purple pasta we eat over lunch is laced with it, and the wines seem to operate on some other timescale of evolution.

They are ferociously dark-fruited and muscular, pungent with coal dust and black carbon ink, spiked with resinous rosemary and medicinal juniper, encased in tannins, energised by acidity.

A great Taurasi or Vulture wine is often too far beyond wine’s polite points of reference, so there’s been an effort to make them more friendly.

I taste these wines and understand them, but they leave me conflicted, like hearing about a dilapidated old building with enormous renovation costs that’s now being torn down to make way for modern flats.

I don’t want to feel sympathy for Aglianico. At its best, it’s blood and glory, more like Islay whisky in sensibility than anything else.

Peated malts such as Lagavulin, once deemed too coarse to drink undiluted, are now one of Scotland’s most distinctive and valuable assets. Perhaps Aglianico will have a similar story.

Cirò reconsidered

If Aglianico is Achilles in a glass, Calabria’s Gaglioppo offers a radically different flavour.

The red grape of Cirò is everything Aglianico isn’t: early maturing, easily dominated by oak, pale in colour, with scents of dried flowers and grated nutmeg.

It has tannins, of course – we’re still in Italy – but it’s a variety that seems to draw on the dried spices of the bazaar and the aromatic woods of the sacristy.

Thanks to a small group of growers who have shown inspiring loyalty to Gaglioppo, Cirò is finding its way forward with remarkable conviction and authenticity, its small Classico zone promoted to DOCG as recently as July 2025.

Here you can find some of Italy’s most palate-expanding whites, reds and rosés: wines that stand on their own terms.

The grammar of granite

Over on the island of Sardinia, Cannonau has begun to shed the soft-focus cosiness that’s often expected of the variety (elsewhere known as Garnacha or Grenache).

The Mamoiada region in central-east Sardinia, a world away from the glamour of Porto Cervo on the northeastern coast, is craggy, wind-scoured and granite-bound, and the wines carry some of that gravitas with them.

The reds of Barbagia are still finding their voice, but they show that even when the grape is familiar, Italy’s south doesn’t want elocution lessons – its local accent is what makes it distinctive.

A blue-collar grape

And what of Puglia, on Italy’s heel, and its primitive Primitivo?

If you were to ask a wine professional what their favourite grape is, they would probably say Riesling, even if it’s not, but I’m certain that no one has ever said Primitivo.

Much like the Carignan shipped from Tangiers to beef up Burgundy in the 20th century, Primitivo travelled north to darken other regions’ wines.

There was no first-class ticket for this immigrant from Croatia (where it goes by the names Crljenak Kaštelanski or Tribidrag); Primitivo is a worker, somehow uncomfortable and pulling at its collar when served in a Zalto glass.

It doesn’t move easily in the aspirational wine world. At Fatalone in Gioia del Colle, Pasquale Petrera’s immaculately tended vineyard is idyllic.

The wine he makes from it is a real Primitivo: rugged, sturdy, heady, full of baked plums and fig jam.

Primitivo isn’t a perfectionist. Its bunches arrive with berries that are raisined, berries that are perfectly ripe, and berries that are green.

Far from being fruity filler for fattening up the deficient wines of the north, Primitivo is a scrappy, difficult variety, one that’s all too easy to stigmatise and ignore.

It’s a variety that’s had a hard life. It has travelled all over the globe on a third-class ticket, but it has seen things in the world that Pinot Noir can’t even imagine.

Changing perspectives

For those who want to tidy up, straighten out or pin down southern Italy, it will always be a frustration.

It has always resisted mastery – and it still does. But where there can’t be mastery, there can be something far better: discovery.

Every native grape variety, every twisted old vine and every family coming back to the land has something to tell us.

There’s no El Dorado here, no piles of gold for vinous Columbuses to quickly plunder and take home, but there are committed winemakers, passionate local cultures and much that’s waiting to be understood, rather than domineered.

You can’t start to rethink southern Italy if your frame of reference is northern Italy or France, or your goal is to bring the wines and places into step with more familiar names.

But if you love the thrill of great Vosne-Romanée, then you have it in you to love the great wines of southern Italy.

If you’ve found your way inside the soul of a great Brunello, you can do it again with Taurasi.

That’s what counts – and it’s all anyone needs in order to understand southern Italy and its wines.

Soul of the south: Southern Italy in a glass

Related articles

On the eastern slope of Etna lies the town of Milo, a small village with the exclusive right to produce wine labelled ‘Etna Bianco Superiore DOC’.

Approaching by car from the south or north, you might be struck by the sudden disappearance of the sun and the descent of mists, or by the dustpans and brushes that the residents keep on their balconies to sweep up volcanic ash.

On any given day, you might drive along roads where drifts of lapilli sent forth from the volcano are banked up at each side of the road like black snow.

The power of Etna feels closer and more present in high-elevation Milo than anywhere else, and it’s here that the mountain’s most thrilling wines – of any colour – are made.

Jason’s pick of the best Etna Bianco Superiore below

Etna’s greatest grape

The vineyard terraces that characterise the Milo zone rise like verdant ziggurats, broad and planted almost entirely with Carricante, a contrast to the more varied slopes of the south or the basalt-hemmed vineyards of the north.

Carricante is a high yielding grape – its name stems from the Italian word for ‘to carry’, or ‘to load’, a reference to its ability to bear many bunches. As a result, it benefits from the natural restriction of bush vine viticulture, dry farming and strict pruning.

Etna is now famous for its reds, but the modern quality revolution arguably began with white wine and, above all, Benanti’s Pietra Marina, first made in the 1990 vintage.

As Salvino Benanti points out, his family were among the first to focus on Etna DOC wines, convinced that the native grapes could achieve world-class stature.

‘Carricante is the most ageworthy grape of Mount Etna,’ he says. ‘We regularly drink our Bianco Superiore from the late 1990s and early 2000s and they still show beautifully.’

Importantly, Etna Bianco Superiore from Milo demands at least 80% of the ageworthy Carricante, while the broader Etna Bianco DOC allows as little as 60%. In practice, most Superiore wines are 90-100% Carricante, which makes for more stylistically consistent and ageworthy wines than the larger and more flexible Etna Bianco.

Etna Bianco DOC now regularly produces over 14,000 hectolitres annually, but Etna Bianco Superiore DOC, with less than 1% of Etna’s total output, averaged just 1,200hl in 2023–24.

To put it into context, that’s around a quarter of the production of Chablis Grand Cru.

A unique microclimate

Milo’s vineyards are some of the volcano’s highest and coolest, but altitude is only part of the story. The village also has a wetter microclimate, with the highest rainfall of all Etna’s vineyards.

‘Milo is always under the rain, we always have clouds,’ says Gea Cali of Maugeri, a small family winery renovated in 2011.

Soils here are geologically young and unusually varied, formed by relatively recent lava flows.

‘This side of the volcano was shaped by an ancient landslide triggered by volcanic activity, which caused various stratifications of terrain to be mixed and carried down the east-facing slope towards the sea. The result is soils with extraordinarily high mineral content compared with the other slopes of the volcano,’ says Fabio Torrisi of Barone di Villagrande, explaining the formation of the Valle del Bove.

The microclimate of the Valle del Bove is crucial. Milo is directly exposed to the east, and although the clash of the cold northerly and warm Mediterranean winds creates significant humidity, there is also a constant breeze coming up from the sea. ‘Fifteen minutes after the rain has fallen, the winds dry everything up,’ Cali points out.

Shaping the wines

Harvests come late in Milo, around the middle of October, and the long ripening period means that the Etna Superiore wines often display a remarkably complete combination of flavour and acidity at relatively low alcohols.

Diurnal ranges of up to 20°C slow down ripening, producing complex flavours in the grapes with high acidity and low pH.

It is Carricante’s thrilling acidity that defines the Superiore wines of Etna’s east slope. It surges through the heart of the wines, present yet subtle, a virtuoso first violinist in an orchestra of flavours. Like the finest silk it is delicate but strong, and after the first attack it can seem to vanish for a moment – only to emerge again on the finish.

Winemaking approaches vary. Traditionalists such as Benanti use long lees ageing, no oak and extended bottle maturation, while newer producers like Maugeri keep the long lees contact but incorporate large-format oak for breadth, and shorter bottle ageing before release.

Growing pains

Milo’s reputation for exceptional wines has brought challenges, however. There are around 43 growers and 25 producers of Etna Bianco Superiore, but only six or seven of those are based in Milo and truly specialise in Carricante.

And the zone’s 56 delimited hectares have now been fully planted, leaving little room to expand production. Local producers are now discussing a dedicated association to safeguard Etna Bianco Superiore’s integrity, with some expressing concerns about the typicity of wines vinified by north-slope producers with no more than a commercial connection to the area.

Yet whatever the politics of Milo, the wines are magnificent; as distinctive as top Chablis, as precise as fine German Riesling, and yet with a flavour profile quite distinct from either. There is no better way to taste all of the danger, potential and beauty of this volcano.

Six wines to discover from Sicily’s volcanic ‘grand cru’

Italy newsletter: Sign up today

Get the best recommendations, vintage analysis, regional and cultural insights and more delivered to your inbox once a month, helping you to stay up-to-date with the latest in Italian wine.

Related articles

• What’s hot on Sicily? Our editor’s 2025 guide
• From the volcano’s edge: Eight smoking hot wines from Etna picked by our expert
• Savour Sicily: The essential food and wine pairings you must try

Etna rightly takes the limelight when it comes to Sicily’s wines. It’s the engine driving the increasing market penetration of the whole of Sicily by raising the awareness and perception of quality – but there’s much more to the island besides Europe’s highest active volcano.

For instance, somms will want to get stuck into some of the island’s rare, historical varieties such as Perricone (as exemplified by Tasca d’Almerita’s ‘Rosso del Conte’ and ‘Guarnaccio’), Orisi (Santa Tresa’s ‘O’), and Vitrarolo (produced by Fina).

Western Sicily’s glut of Catarratto and Grillo, historically used for the now out of fashion fortified wines of Marsala, is undergoing a transformation worthy of note too, with many growers having pivoted to producing dry whites of increasing quality and appeal.

And Marsala’s other grape, Zibibbo (Muscat of Alexandria) cannot be forgotten. It is capable of producing some wonderfully fragrant and exotic dry whites. It also shines on the volcanic island of Pantelleria, off Sicily’s southwest coast, where it produces both dry and sweet styles worth seeking out.

And for those looking for lighter reds, Sicily’s Frappato, Nerello Mascalese and even the once-jammy Nero d’Avola provide plenty of options.

Below you can find my round up of brand new labels, bottles of particular note, and delicious ‘everyday’ sips, selected from hundreds of wines tasted during 2025.

Scroll down for the complete score table featuring over 180 recommendations, as well as more insight into Sicily’s wines.

A winemaker’s playground

The sheer variety of terroirs available makes Sicily a playground for winemakers – in fact, there are quite a number of producers making wine from more than one part of the island; for instance, Planeta, Donnafugata and Tasca d’Almerita.

The island’s heterogeneous landscape has additionally attracted winemakers from elsewhere: Frank Cornelissen (Belgium), Benjamin Spencer (California), Peter Vinding-Diers (Denmark), Eduardo Torres Acosta (Tenerife), Angelo Gaja, Giovanni Rosso and Marco de Grazia (Piedmont), and the Franchetti, Mazzei, Moretti Cuseri, Piccini and, now, Frescobaldi families (Tuscany) – to name just a few.

But the thing that appeals to me most about Sicily is not the variety and improving quality of the wines, nor the impressive number of indigenous varieties that is like catnip to a wine geek. It’s not even the romantic allure of Mount Etna.

They are, of course, all fantastic strings to Sicily’s bow, but the thing that I love the most is the feeling I get every time I visit.

Dripping with history yet also with a relatively young modern wine industry, to me it has a similar buzz of energy and experimentation as the nascent wine scene in the UK.

What’s happening on Sicily?

Etna’s whites are gaining momentum

The profile of Etna’s whites is gaining momentum, with more than a handful of winemakers claiming that it represents the future of the volcano’s wines.

‘The focus today is more on the production of the white,’ Simone Foti (I Vigneri) tells me. It’s an undeniable fact – as noted by the Etna DOC consorzio – that the production of white grapes is quickly catching up with that of the reds.

Salvino Benanti, whose esteemed family estate is based in Viagrande on the southeast side of Etna but with vineyards all around the volcano – including Milo on the east slope – told me at the beginning of the year that one hectare in Milo had recently sold for €250,000. ‘Ten years ago it would have sold for 10 times less’.

Benjamin Franchetti of Passopisciaro concurs: ‘The prices are very high…I can just tell you that I bought 10 hectares in Tuscany [Franchetti also owns Tenuta di Trinoro in the Orcia Valley] and one hectare in Milo, and they cost the same!’

Whether Benanti’s comment is linked to Franchetti, we can’t tell, but the purchase is significant not only for the price but also for the fact that one of north Etna’s pre-eminent wineries is choosing to work with Carricante in the zone of Milo. ‘We don’t have much experience with Carricante,’ Franchetti admits.

Passopisciaro was founded by Benjamin’s late father, Andrea Franchetti, in 2000 and has made a name for itself producing a superb range of single-contrada Nerello Mascalese, as well as unusual bottlings for Etna such as a high-altitude Chardonnay (claimed to be the highest Chardonnay vines in Europe…) and a Petit Verdot/ Cesanese d’Affile blend from 820 metres above sea level!

Franchetti tells me that he aims to become ‘one of the players’ in Milo, where Carricante’s finest expressions are found – and the only place on the volcano where they can be bottled as Etna Superiore.

‘Carricante has a lot to say; it already says a lot but here [in Milo] it can say more!’

A fly in the ointment

As if Peronospora in 2023 and severe drought in 2024 wasn’t enough, winemakers are facing a new threat, brought to the island by rising temperatures.

The Ciccolina is a type of fly which found its way to southeast Sicily from Libya in North Africa during the extremely hot summer of 2021. It damages vines by sucking sugar from the leaves, leaving them unable to photosynthesise.

Speaking to winemakers on Etna, it seems the fly hasn’t yet spread there and it currently remains contained to the Vittoria area – but if extreme temperatures continue to characterise the summers, there’s a chance it could become a wider issue in the future.

Derailing the message

We’ve covered before how Sicily is ahead of the curve in terms of sustainable operations, and it’s really heartening to hear about initiatives including corks made from recovered ocean waste, and a bottling plant that uses recycled Sicilian glass to produce lightweight wine bottles for local use.

But while my hopes remain very high for the fortune of the island’s wines, Sicily’s position as one of the leading regions in Europe in terms of sustainability is derailed by the very widespread presence of man-made waste that litters Sicily’s landscapes and threatens its precious habitats, both on land and in the sea.

Of course I’m fully aware that waste management is a wider issue, including here in the UK, but the concern is that Sicily’s claims to sustainability are hindered by what appears to be a deeply ingrained lack of respect for the environment by the local population.

Andrea Lonardi MW publicly called this out earlier in the year during the launch of the Salt West project, noting that changing the local mindset to dispose of their rubbish properly would be a hurdle in the progression of their project: ‘There is not a culture of doing that.’

Recent vintages in brief: What to look out for

2023

Rains arrived in spring during the flowering period and persisted for weeks, bringing with them overcast skies – as was the case when I landed in Catania in May. The timing was critical, and Peronospora (downy mildew) reared its ugly head despite Sicily’s typically well ventilated vineyards.

With the largest proportion of organic vineyards in any Italian region, using chemical treatments for many was not an option. Anyway, any treatments – organic or otherwise – would just slough off the vines with the next wave of rain.

Having vineyard teams in place to react quickly and en masse after each soaking is a luxury few could afford, especially in cases where plots are very fragmented, and so much – but not all – of the damage was done before there were even grapes on the vines.

The summer then brought extreme heat and drought. Many vines shut down as a self-preservation measure, delaying maturation and resulting in thicker skins, uneven ripening and later harvests.

Yields, already affected following the spring Peronospora, were further reduced, and – cherry on the top – some vineyards were even hit by pockets of hail just before harvest.

Hard losses

The north side of Etna was one of the most affected areas in 2023, and losses to Peronospora were massive. Frank Cornelissen lost around 70% of his fruit, while Passopisciaro reported losses of around 60%.

‘I see people in Linguaglossa [on Etna’s north slope], they lost 100% of their crop,’ Stef Yim (Sciara) tells me.

There are therefore many gaps in winery portfolios which can be attributed to these losses or – in the case of producers such as Benanti – quality control.

‘Two years ago, we skipped production of several wines – we just didn’t like the quality of 2023,’ Salvino Benanti tells me.

It was a vintage winemakers would rather forget, but the surviving wines actually have good potential, offering reasonable fragrance and purity of fruit.

While they don’t typically have the level of complexity found in the best vintages, and the whites are notably lighter in concentration in many cases, quality is good – but it ultimately depends on how individual wineries fared in the difficult season.

I have to mention that during my tastings I also came across a number of whites – primarily from Etna – which had slightly unusual aromas and flavours. Whether this is the result of some botrytis in the grapes, the need to adjust the blend to make up volumes following losses in the vineyard, or something else, I can’t be sure.

And although I tried to find answers, none of the winemakers/ owners I spoke with were able to shed any light.

2024

A superb vintage for whites but not without difficulties. Production again took a hit, with the biggest losses this time seen on the west side of the island.

Assovini Sicilia, the producers’ consortium, notes that yields were down 30% on average in Marsala, and 40% on the small island of Pantelleria.

For Tasca d’Almerita, its Regaleali estate in Sclafani, central Sicily, lost around 30% of production in 2024 due to the drought. According to Alberto Tasca, the artificial lake was completely empty, leaving them unable to irrigate.

And producers in Vittoria in southeast Sicily were not spared, although the impact was lower, partly thanks to the incredible resilience of the area’s vines.

‘We can’t cultivate like my father; we can’t cultivate when we don’t have water!…The future of viticulture is precision water management,’ says Gaetana Jacono of Vallee dell’Acate in Vittoria in a statement echoed by some other winemakers across Italy.

The situation was less severe on Etna, and Assovini Sicilia gives a figure of +70% for yields here compared to the disastrous 2023 (which was down 42% on the average).

Widespread drought in the summer was not helped by the incredibly dry winter of 2023/2024 which preceded it. Even Etna was affected, with barely any snow visible over the winter.

In the nick of time

It was only at the end of the summer that rains arrived in Sicily to quench the vines just in time, accelerating ripening for record early harvests across the island – picking in many cases began around a week earlier than usual but in some cases even earlier.

But continuous light rain from July onwards on Etna’s north slope – in stark contrast to the drought being experienced elsewhere – demanded attention in the vineyards, no doubt generating concern as the memories of 2023 were still at the forefront of producers’ minds.

Despite this, Marco de Grazia tells me that, ‘2024 is probably the best vintage in the last 20 years…stunning.’

The whites hitting the market (as well as the first 2024 reds) are superb, with wonderful fragrant qualities which soar, alongside purity and freshness which belie the torrid conditions.

2025

The general buzz is that 2025 will produce balanced, fresh wines of good quality. Following several vintages of extremes, this is welcome news to winemakers in Sicily.

Conditions saw a return to the usual rhythm, with a wet winter and a mild spring with showers replenishing water reserves. Even Vittoria, one of the driest and hottest parts of the island, saw some rain during a visit to the area in May.

The summer was hot but day-night temperature swings were considerable in many cases, preserving freshness and aromatics.

It’s still too early to be sure – the last grapes are still to be picked – but official estimates put production in 2025 at around 10% up on 2024 – still down on the longterm average.

Tasca d’Almerita reports a long harvest across its five estates which, ‘after the climatic extremes of past years, brings freshness, complexity, and balance’.

‘The white musts show a harmonious sugar-acid balance with floral and fruity notes, while the red ones achieved full phenolic ripeness, excellent concentration, and structure,’ reports Alberto Tasca.

Sicily buying guide: 25 wines to covet, seek out and drink

Related articles

• Savour Sicily: The essential food and wine pairings you must try
• Expert’s Choice: Frappato
• Etna’s star winemakers

Etna’s uniqueness never ceases to fascinate. Between lava slopes, extreme altitudes and ultra-centenarian sapling vineyards on characteristic terraces contained by dry lava stone walls, the volcano’s energy dominates the landscape and wine-producing scenery.

Its heroic viticulture and magnetising aspect attracts enthusiasts and winemakers the world over, inducing them to choose a way of life on a’muntagna (Etna’s local name) despite the challenging work.

An age-old viticultural area, Etna has become an internationally recognised wine territory.

The volcano features a complex mosaic of soils, slopes, altitudes and microclimates, condensed into over 130 contrade (historical sub-areas defined by particular lava formations that characterise the geology – and the wines).

The native varieties Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio are used for reds and whites; while Carricante dominates white production.

All are able to channel and express the distinctive imprint of this volcanic kaleidoscope.

It was a dimension we experienced during Etna Days this September. The event was conceived by the Etna DOC consortium to spotlight the constantly evolving path of Sicily’s first denomination.

The Etna DOC was established back in 1968 and is now on its way to becoming a DOCG in the near future.

The tastings highlighted a clear improvement in the whites due to producers increasingly channelling Carricante’s acidic and sapid character. It’s a variety that produces wines of enormous evolutionary potential. Focusing on their longevity will be a winning card in the years to come.

The subtle and complex reds are always fascinating, offering vibrant, characterful wines with a narrative of vivid gustatory tension and volcanic personality.

From the crater: Eight Etna wines to try

Italy newsletter: Sign up today

Get the best recommendations, vintage analysis, regional and cultural insights and more delivered to your inbox once a month, helping you to stay up-to-date with the latest in Italian wine.

Related articles

• Cristina Mercuri: Wines on the edge – How Etna is redefining elegance
• Etna’s star winemakers
• Searching for the soul of Nerello Mascalese

James Button, Decanter's Italy editor, explores the myriad styles of wine produced on the island of Sicily, tasting more than 180 wines for his 2025 Sicily buying guide now available on Decanter Premium.

Here we present a quick and easy way to see the tasting notes and scores for all recommended wines, displayed alphabetically by producer.

See also

What's hot on Sicily? 2025 buyer's guide

Western Sicily is never entirely at rest. The land is shaped by limestone plateaus that sit above subterranean pockets of fresh rainwater, while the ongoing tectonic tension between the African and Eurasian plates means that earth tremors are a familiar feature of life.

The island of Sicily itself has undergone upheavals and constant evolution throughout its history, marked by centuries of conquests. At its far-western tip, the fortunes of Marsala (from Marsa Allah, meaning ‘Harbour of God’ in Arabic) were shaped by the seafaring British empire, which brought its wines global reach during the 19th century before they began to fall out of favour in the latter part of the 20th.

Today, like the land itself, Marsala is in motion once again, with a new generation of wine producers leading a quiet renaissance that reframes the narrative through quality, authenticity and innovation. They are blowing off the dust and reintroducing Marsala as a source of wines worthy of the modern table.

Marisa’s pick of the best of modern Marsala below

Hello, Grillo

At the heart of Marsala’s revival is the Grillo grape, a natural cross between Catarratto and Zibibbo (aka Muscat of Alexandria).

Of the varieties permitted for making Marsala – Inzolia (known elsewhere as Ansonica), Cataratto, Damaschino, Grillo, Nerello Mascalese, Nero d’Avola (Calabrese) and Perricone – producers believe that Grillo is singularly vital, possessing naturally high alcohol that allows for minimal fortification and thereby preserves Marsala’s character (see more on Grillo, below).

Its capacity to resist heat also brings acidity and resultant tension – the ideal backbone for wines destined for long ageing. Based in the south of Marsala town, Cantine Florio puts Grillo front and centre.

Its visitor experience explores food and Marsala pairings, starting with the unfiltered (and unfortified) base wine Vino Florio, an expression of terroir and variety as it is before a wine begins the journey towards becoming a fortified Marsala.

‘Grillo is the incarnation of the Marsala territory and brings to the glass all the flavour of the sea and a crunchy, evolving, structured and decisive character,’ says Florio director Roberto Magnisi. ‘All this is essential for the birth of a Marsala destined to live for many, many years.’

The beginnings: fortified fortune

By the 18th century, Britain had long enjoyed Port, Madeira and Sherry, but when trade relations with Spain and Portugal became strained, supplies were uncertain. Then, in 1773, English merchant John Woodhouse arrived on the shores of Marsala.

He spotted an opportunity in the local solera-style wine (made by a process of gradually moving wines down through a tiered arrangement of casks, adding fresh wines from each new vintage to the casks at the top, such that those at the bottom contain the longest-matured blend of wines for bottling, and ensuring consistency of complexity and depth).

His commercial optimism proved successful, and with the addition of a splash of distilled spirit to stabilise it for the journey home, a new wine trade was born. This marked the beginning of Marsala as the world would come to know it, in its fortified guise.

In the first half of the 19th century, the likes of Englishman Benjamin Ingham and Italian Vincenzo Florio transformed Marsala’s global reputation, and a century later, more than 100 wineries lined the coast, strategically positioned for easy export; Marsala became one of the very first Italian wines to travel across continents.

However, industrial production ultimately led to Marsala’s decline. Sweetened and adulterated, the wines lost the character they had once had. Changing consumer tastes also tested its reputation, and by the 1980s, few outside Sicily saw Marsala as much more than a cooking wine.

Back to the table

Producer Francesco Intorcia, whose family has been making Marsala since 1930, claims that wine doesn’t need reinvention, just rediscovery.

Intorcia’s aim is to change perceptions of wines from this historic region. ‘It’s a mental and cultural barrier we need to break’, he says. He developed his Heritage brand (see tasting notes) to create a new vision for Marsala.

Magnisi at Florio elaborates: ‘Marsala is a wine that has many expressions, and these can be enhanced by the right pairing with food.’

From the shores of Marsala to the restaurants of Paris, sommeliers are now offering it not just as a sweet encore to cannoli, but pairing it with everything from starters to mains.

‘Marsala is a world that is so profound you simply can’t avoid experimenting,’ says Agnese Morandi, head sommelier at Table by Bruno Verjus in Paris. ‘Of course, it will always be amazing at the end of a meal as a meditation wine,’ she adds, ‘but it has a lot more to give.’

Shaken and stirred

Bartenders have also begun exploring Marsala’s potential as a flavourful, versatile stand-in for vermouth or Port in cocktails. Its umami notes and layered aromatics lend depth, making it an easy ‘why not?’ for creators of innovative cocktails.

Suddenly, cocktail menus are featuring Marsala-tinis, Bloody Marsalas, Marsala Manhattans and Marsala Negroni riffs kissed with exotic bitters. Sliding over a Marsala Tonic, Intorcia leans in. ‘A cocktail should showcase Marsala as the main character, not just a supporting role.’

His passion for reviving Marsala’s culture is clear in the cocktail tours he leads across the island. Pellegrino’s Marsala Revolution range is intended for use in bars and in mixed drinks, and as a means of targeting younger consumers.

‘To truly restore Marsala to the place it deserves, we need to generate new opportunities for people to taste it, understand it and fall in love with it again,’ says Benedetto Renda, president of Cantine Pellegrino. ‘Marsala is being rediscovered with new eyes, in new places, by a new audience.’

Marsala’s many moods

The versatility of Marsala stems from its family of styles. On its way up is the bone-dry Vergine, aged for at least five years in casks. Across all its varied styles, Marsala combines oxidative complexity with natural acidity, making this historically intriguing wine excellent for pairing with food.

Marsala’s production methods, and therefore the style of the wines, vary dramatically, ranging in colour and sweetness, and in ageing and fortification designations.

To shape the wine’s final character and help distinguish one style from another, winemakers choose whether to add either mistella – a blend of grape must and alcohol – or mosto cotto (‘cooked must’), which adds concentrated sugars along with a caramelised character and deep colour.

Florio brings clarity with labels that summarise and visually map the wine’s ageing journey through its cellars, placing the focus on Marsala’s evolution in both artistic and narrative ways.

The front label includes information on the years spent ageing in cask and the year it was fortified, also clearly indicating the ‘Angel’s share’ – the portion lost to evaporation through the wood of the barrel during long ageing – as a percentage figure.

Each style has a side label with a unique ‘map’ or chart that shows in graphic form which barrel it started in, in which part of the cellar, and how it progressed to where it ended up, as well as the distance (in metres) the barrels are from the coastline.

It’s a level of detail that reveals the depth of the wines’ character and helps consumers to connect with their story.

Drink what the locals drink

No conversation about Marsala’s future is complete without recognising Marco De Bartoli, the winemaker who, in the late 1970s, revived the ancient ‘vino perpetuo’ method, using a solera-type system to layer vintages of 100% Grillo in oak and chestnut barrels before bottling it under the name Vecchio Samperi.

Unfortified and oxidative in style, yet with freshness and persistence, this wine recalls the ‘pre-British’ style that preceded fortified Marsala – it’s a style that has long been respected (and drunk) by Sicilian locals.

Always unfortified, these wines fall outside the Marsala DOC regulations, hence cannot be bottled under the name ‘Marsala’. More producers are beginning to reintroduce this style, and since multi-vintage blends in general are finding themselves increasingly in vogue again, the age-old production method of the Marsala region suddenly feels unexpectedly contemporary.

While aged cheeses and seafood couscous pair beautifully with these pre-British wines, according to the producer (Marco De Bartoli died in 2011, but the business has been continued under his name by his children Renato, the late Sebastiano and Giuseppina), ramen has emerged as an unexpected match in Japan, where Marsala remains more underground than ubiquitous.

Here, seaweed, bamboo shoots and long-simmered stock yearn to be matched with an oxidative style. At Table restaurant in Paris, sommelier Morandi has paired the Marco De Bartoli Vecchio Samperi with a wide range of dishes, including everything from abalone and caramelised aubergine to pigeon glazed with Mexican mole sauce, and sweetbreads with chanterelles and lobster sauce.

The fresh wines of Marsala

In addition to the oxidative pre-British wines, the non-fortified, non-oxidised still wines made from Grillo are also gaining attention.

Crisp, dry and ‘salty’ in character, they also fall outside the Marsala DOC, but they’re integral to Marsala’s future, expressing youthfulness and terroir without the constraints of tradition.

Wines from the Salt West project (see boxout below) are reviving the Grillo wines from the Stagnone lagoon area, a little north up the coast from Marsala town, while Tasca d’Almerita produces a Grillo from the lagoon’s Mozia island.

The wines’ great strength is pure food-friendliness.

Is there still a place for fortified wine?

In a world leaning toward fresh, low-intervention, low-alcohol wines, fortified wines might seem passé, but Marsala is an outlier and its dry styles are proving otherwise. Producers are cutting sweetness levels and focusing on freshness.

And for wine lovers open to oxidative depth – the kind that reveals toasted almond, orange peel, dried fig, caramel with sea salt, antique wood – there is enormous reward.

Looking ahead

There’s a quiet but newfound swagger in Marsala’s step. It’s more self-aware than it has been in generations, with renewed pride in the land, the grape and the craftsmanship that goes into making the wine.

‘Producers have changed their approach,’ says Renda, who is also president of the Marsala producers’ consorzio. ‘They are telling the story of a Marsala suited to any moment: a social, contemporary wine, perfect for an aperitif, a dinner with friends, a special evening or a moment of relaxation. Marsala is a wine that surprises.’

Little by little, the surprise is being discovered and Marsala is reclaiming its place on the table. Tourism in Sicily is rising; people are seeing Marsala in a new light.

‘Marsala must return to its rightful context – in the glass, at the table, and in the conversation,’ says Maria Chiara Bellina, sixth generation and head of wine hospitality at Pellegrino.

Perceptions are changing. Marsala finds itself in motion once again.

Salt West – reviving Sicily’s salty soul

In western Sicily, Stagnone lagoon is home to shimmering salt pans, four quiet islands rich in Phoenician history and an emotionally evocative landscape. This natural reserve is balmy and windswept, with salty breezes blowing nearly 300 days a year.

Located near the port town of Marsala, the area has long been known for its namesake fortified wine, yet a grassroots wine revolution is today quietly unfolding. A project launched by Italy’s three Masters of Wine – Pietro Russo, Gabriele Gorelli and Andrea Lonardi – Salt West’s mission is as elemental as salt itself: to reclaim the soul and viticultural future of the Stagnone.

‘In spring 2022, I was in the middle of an old and beautiful Grillo vineyard for sale right in front of the Stagnone,’ says Russo, a native of Marsala and former winemaker at Donnafugata. ‘I sent a photo to Gabriele and Andrea, and without me even asking, they both replied, “Let’s buy it!”’

United by their MW journey, the trio began working the land and crafting a wine that spoke not only of the limestone plateau, saline breezes and historic lagoon, but of the starring grape: Grillo.

Their first vintage, Officina del Vento 2023, captures the area’s raw intensity as an unfortified, still wine. ‘It’s a Grillo that embodies this place,’ says Russo. ‘Restrained yet expressive – crunchy citrus, iodine, garrigue, salty breeze. Ambitious and contemporary, with ageability.’

But soon came a deeper purpose. ‘Why don’t we give back to this area and share our project with other wineries?’ Russo recalls. ‘That is the essence of Salt West.’

The project today includes local producers Cantine Fina, Francesco Intorcia Heritage, Baglio Oro and Mastro di Baglio, and is growing, the project’s members united by a shared vision with a commitment to crafting 100% Grillo wines that express the identity of the Stagnone.

‘It’s a unique place,’ states secondgeneration Federica Fina. ‘Not only for its beauty but for the distinctive geology of its vineyards and wines.’ Salt West’s progenitors share a longterm vision of cultural and economic sustainability, formal recognition as a geographical indication and community.

‘It’s a dream to promote the vitality of this place,’ adds Russo. ‘Even more, to leave something that lasts beyond us.’

Marsala’s new-era style wines

Italy newsletter: Sign up today

Get the best recommendations, vintage analysis, regional and cultural insights and more delivered to your inbox once a month, helping you to stay up-to-date with the latest in Italian wine.

Related articles

• Savour Sicily: The essential food and wine pairings
• A guide to Sicily’s native grape varieties
• Arianna Occhipinti: Leading Frappato’s revival

In a nation with a longstanding reputation for warmth, generosity and, at times, opulence in its wines, Etna emerges as a distinctive entity, offering a wine style that is more incisive, cooler and more structured.

But is DOC Etna in Sicily genuinely leading the way in the shift towards elegance in Italian fine wines? Or is it merely the most appealing manifestation of a more extensive transformation that is already in progress?

Spread around the flanks of the world’s most active stratovolcano, Etna’s vineyard area spans about 1,300ha, spread across 142 contrade – a fragmented landscape characterised by lava flows, elevations and exposures that exhibit a dynamic evolution, mirroring the restless activity of the volcano itself.

To walk among these vineyards evokes a profound sense of the presence of the volcano: colossal, silent, vibrant. The tension present within the landscape appears to imbue the wines themselves with animating spirit. It’s a collage of micro-terroirs interpreted by a generation of winemakers who understand that restraint is a refined value.

White Carricante and red Nerello Mascalese thrive here, yielding wines of linear structure, vivid acidity and aromatic precision.

Yet terroir alone doesn’t make a movement. What strikes me most is how the younger winemakers here have committed to a style that avoids density in favour of truth.

Whether it’s the precision of Federico Graziani, the cerebral transparency of Graci’s wines, or the restrained beauty of Girolamo Russo – all on the volcano’s north slope – there’s a shared philosophy: let the mountain speak, don’t over-extract, keep it lifted. It’s a rejection of both global trends and local stereotypes.

Some experts compare Etna with Burgundy. There’s some truth to this, but also something more: Etna is building an identity all of its own that’s authentic to its place.

Nevertheless, I am reluctant to designate this as a distinctive characteristic of Etna. Today, the concept of elegance is influenced by many factors: climate, markets, aesthetics, recent trends and identity. You see the same refinement playing out in Chianti Classico, for example, where Sangiovese is being harvested for lower alcohol and a slender character, oak influence is being reduced and the fruit allowed to breathe.

In the north, Valpolicella producers are questioning the dominance of ‘wines of method’ such as Amarone in favour of fresher, delicate expressions of Corvina-based blends; even in Barolo, the obsession with structure is giving way to nuance.

What we’re seeing is less a revolution from below, more an industry-wide recalibration.

Is Etna the leader in this, or simply the most emblematic case? I’d argue it’s both. It leads in the clarity with which it expresses this new Italian elegance – lean, mineral, energetic – but follows in the sense that other regions began to shed their excesses earlier.

The distinguishing characteristic of Etna is the purity of the signal. Here, elegance does not require artificial manipulation; it manifests organically, emanating from the ground.

Pursuing the thought further, what is behind the present exaltation of elegance in Italian wine? Is it a reaction to the super-cuvées of the 1990s and 2000s: wines inflated by oak, extraction and critics’ points? Perhaps climate change is forcing a rethink of ripeness. Or is it indicative of a more profound cultural shift and an emergent consumer demand?

After decades of asserting power on the world stage through its wines, Italy may be learning that its true strength lies in distinctiveness not dominance.

Etna’s role in this is crucial. It gives us a vocabulary of elegance that is southern, volcanic and deeply rooted.

This approach has the potential to transform the discourse surrounding the concept of finesse in Italian wine, challenging conventional notions of its association with specific regions or climates. In that sense, Etna is not just on the edge geographically – it’s on the edge of a new Italian wine identity.

In my glass this month

Firmly rooted in Etna’s sense of place, Maugeri’s sophisticated Contrada Volpare Rosato 2024 is a testament to restrained volcanic elegance. Made from Nerello Mascalese, it offers a fragrant bouquet of wild strawberry and thyme, a touch of toast from judicious use of oak, and a mineral, smoky note. The palate has a lively yet poised quality, with vibrant acidity, mid-palate weight, linear tension and layered structure, with a long citrus-zest finish.

Cristina Mercuri is founder and CEO of Mercuri Wine Club, which provides trade consultancy and WSET education and training at all levels in Italy

Related articles

• The insiders’ guide to Tuscany – how to get around and the best places for lunch and dinner
• Frontier Spirit: The pioneer winemakers of northern Italy
• Italy’s mission to preserve its wine culture

This past summer, as the US edged toward authoritarian populism, I travelled to a French semi-autonomous wine region with the thought that a five-decades-past story of resistance might offer solace.

Corsica’s jagged mountain peaks erupt from the sea and its steep hillsides teem with aromatic scrub. The region’s best wines are highly redolent of this maquis: eucalyptus, fennel, fig, juniper, laurel, mint, lavender, myrtle, rosemary, sage, strawflower, thyme.

The Corsican people are famously intrepid, once known for their vendettas – bloody family feuds – and their mastery of the craft of knifemaking. From these people, this land and ancient Roman, Greek and Etruscan roots arose distinctly regional wines.

These wines came under threat during the 1960s and ’70s, when some 17,000 French rapatriés – French colonists fleeing a newly liberated Algeria – arrived on the island and secured government land grants that enabled industrial-scale viticulture, quadrupling vineyard acreage while tarnishing Corsica’s reputation.

In August 1975, a group of Corsican growers and activists, armed with hunting rifles, seized a rapatrié-owned cellar in Aléria. The standoff spurred support for the riacquistu, a Corsican movement to reclaim heritage through language, song… and viticulture.

‘I still remember seeing my father take his rifle to help friends entrenched in a winery during the 1975 clashes,’ recalls Yves Leccia, a wine grower in Poggio d’Oletta who has led the revival of Corsican winemaking and vine varieties. ‘This fight has now been won, but we must continue our efforts to ensure that the lesser-known Corsican grape varieties are also integrated into the appellations.’

Currently, the only traditional Corsican grapes that can bear an AP designation are Vermentinu, Nielluciu and Sciaccarellu. Leccia is one of many vignerons who feel honour-bound to vinify unrecognised endemic varieties such as Minustellu, Biancu Gentile, Codivarta, Riminese and Genovese.

‘I didn’t know that PDOs [protected designations of origin] could rewrite 3,000 years of history,’ scoffs Jean-Charles Abbatucci, a wine grower who – in continuing the work of his father – is credited with saving many of Corsica’s autochthonous grapes, many of which are not officially recognised. ‘The paradox is that the greatest Corsican wines are often classified as Vin de France or Vin de Table.’

At Domaine de Marquiliani in Haute-Corse – not far from where the armed standoff took place – Anne Amalric and her daughter Pauline are working with researchers on a test vineyard and vine library to ensure that Corsica’s heirloom varieties thrive.

Traditional practices accompany the traditional grape varieties. Amalric drapes wool from a neighbour’s sheep over her vines and olive trees to protect against humidity. Abbatucci sprays his vines with seawater in lieu of copper or sulphur. Clos Culombu – like Domaine Comte Abbatucci a biodynamic estate – hosts an event that revolves around the revival of La Tribbiera, the ancient practice of threshing wheat with oxen.

‘I practice what I call “historical agriculture”. Indigenous grape varieties are witnesses to the dawn of time, perfectly adapted to our region, climate and soils,’ Abbatucci tells me. ‘These grape varieties tell a story – that of Corsica and its identity… Producing this wine is a way of preserving memory, but also of building a future. It is an act of resistance against standardisation.’

In the past, I often laughed off the idea of government overreach at home. At the same time, I admired vignerons abroad who championed their traditional methods and grape varieties in the face of oppressive bureaucratic rule. Today, I’m seeing these growers in a new light. If their wine-growing is an act of resistance, I want to join the revolution.

In my glass this month

Domaine Comte Abbatucci, Général de la Révolution 2023 (£69.90 Millésima), a field blend of ancient white varieties with honeyed richness. Clos Culombu, Storia di Signore 2023, scented with wild flowers and tasting of almonds, grapefruit and sea breeze. Domaine de Marquiliani, Le Gris de Pauline 2024, a delicate rosé; fresh and briney – a pink wine I want to drink year round. And Yves Leccia, O Bà! 2020, a spicy blend of old-vine Minustellu, Niellucciu and Grenache – serve chilled and drink with pride.

Related articles

• Katherine Cole: When wine met tariffs, history rarely went according to plan
• Katherine Cole: ‘The surest way to ensure wine’s demise is to politicise it’
• Katherine Cole: ‘I have had it with stemware – enough already’

The largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily is blessed with one of the most diversified culinary traditions in the world, drawing its roots not only in the rich biodiversity of its fertile land but also in the myriad different cultural influences linked to Ancient Greek, Roman, Arab-Norman and Spanish rule over the centuries.

Sicily is where pasta as we know it was born, according to most historians: the Arab rulers in the Middle Ages started drying thin strips made with flour, water and salt that would then evolve into spaghetti. It also boasts one of Italy’s most important fishing traditions, as testified by the many tonnare (former tuna processing facilities, sometimes transformed into museums or event locations) scattered across its 1,637km-long coastline.

Still to this day, the city of Mazara del Vallo on the island’s west coast houses Italy’s largest fishing fleet, supplying the entire country with fresh seafood. Agricultural products abound too: from capers grown on the volcanic soils of the islands of Salina and Pantelleria, to pistachios from the town of Bronte on Etna – Sicilian cooks have a plethora of ingredients to choose from.

This incredible diversity extends to wine production, with the region’s wine-growing areas offering almost any style you could think of.

Explore the excellence of one of Italy’s most iconic wine producers – book your place at the Antinori Masterclass at Decanter Fine Wine Encounter London 2025

Start on the streets

The Sicilian culinary feast begins on the streets. When in Palermo, grabbing a pane e panelle (bread with fried chickpea croquettes) or some pani câ meusa (bread with veal spleen) from market stands is highly recommended.

Arancini (fried rice balls filled with different ingredients) are popular in cafeterias all over the island, while regional variants of pizza like sfincione palermitano (thick, and topped with anchovies and caciocavallo cheese) and scaccia ragusana (stuffed with various ingredients, including vegetables and meat) belong to specific towns.

All these recipes are flavourful and fat-rich: while beer is the most obvious pairing, they also work well with a glass of palate-cleansing, layered, creamy sparkling wine – ideally, of course, from high-altitude vineyards in Sicily.

From the Mediterranean Sea

Even though the seafood offering of most Sicilian restaurants is based upon the catch of the day, the iconic Mazara del Vallo red prawns are almost ubiquitous in higher-end establishments, and enjoy great success outside the region too. They are usually served raw or slightly marinated in citrus, and the lifted aromatics of a dry Zibibbo enhance their flavours.

Red tuna and swordfish require a slightly fuller wine to accompany their richer flesh: the latter makes an especially good pairing with a medium-bodied, unoaked Nero d’Avola with light tannins and loads of succulent fruit, especially when cooked in the Aeolian style (with capers, cherry tomatoes and olives).

In Western Sicily, the Arab influence is evident in popular dishes such as couscous alla trapanese (with shellfish, various fishes, almonds, garlic, saffron and sometimes herbs), which requires a softer and bolder white wine; try a slightly oaked Grillo to tame the tangy flavours.

The flintiness, spiciness and refreshing acidity of Catarratto, instead, complement creamier and oilier seafood pasta like busiate (twisted Trapani dry pasta) with pistachios and shrimps, or spaghetti with sardines, wild fennel and fried breadcrumbs.

A bounty of aubergines

Different southern Italian regions claim the invention of parmigiana di melanzane (aubergine parmigiana), yet Sicily is where you’ll find some of the most flavourful versions thanks to the island’s hard-to-beat local aubergines.

Tomato sauce and aubergines also appear in caponata (assorted fried vegetables with celery, onions and a sweet and sour sauce) and pasta alla norma, the region’s most iconic pasta dish, featuring a generous shaving of salted ricotta cheese on top.

All of these recipes are well complemented by a fruit-forward, mid-weight red with crisp acids and gentle tannins, such as Frappato.

Meat-based dishes

The eastern portion of the island offers the greatest variety of options for carnivores: Nero dei Nebrodi ham from the namesake free-range pork breed, raised in a mountainous area close to Etna, shares a melt-in-your mouth consistency with Jamón Ibérico de Bellota, but with a slightly less oxidative flavour. It may be the best pairing with a lively and elegant Etna Rosso.

A richer and more tannic red like Perricone from western Sicily matches involtini alla messinese (fried veal rolls with Provolone cheese, parsley and garlic), horse meat chops (typical of Catania) or a Nero dei Nebrodi pork fillet.

Last but not least

Any culinary experience in Sicily would be incomplete without a taste of the iconic regional desserts accompanied by one of the renowned Passito wines, mostly made with grapes dried under the Mediterranean sun.

For those preferring lighter styles with moderate residual sugar, Malvasia delle Lipari Passito, produced in the Lipari archipelago, is the best choice, making an ideal match to cassatelle (fried ravioli filled with sheep ricotta) and the traditional cannoli (tube-shaped fried pastry filled with ricotta cheese and candied fruit), especially if coming from the outskirts of Palermo, where the emphasis is usually on the creaminess and light acidity of the ricotta instead of just sweetness.

Most other Sicilian desserts, including almond paste sweets and cassata (sponge cake), work best with Passito di Pantelleria, a decadently sweet dessert wine from the namesake island in the Sicilian channel. Although a glass may sometimes feel like a dessert on its own, the best versions are savoury and bright enough to cleanse the palate and round up a delightful meal without causing fatigue.

Raffaele’s picks for Sicilian wine and food pairing:

Related articles

• Wine lover’s guide to Etna
• City guide to Catania
• Palermo for wine lovers

As we wade through the sticky, sultry dog days of summer, the allure of cool and refreshing drinks becomes not just more tantalising, but necessary.

And perhaps you’re currently feeling a little jaded by just the one style of wine you’ve been drinking over the past few weeks, too hot and bothered to muster up the brain power to try anything else.

A long, hot summer can be an awfully long time to constantly drink just the one rosé after all.

So if you’re stuck in a summer rut, here are three top tips to find something else to shake up your summer evenings and languid days by the pool.

Subscribe today for full access to all Premium articles

1. Wines made by the sea

It sounds obvious or perhaps rather silly, but wines made from coastal regions really do seem to have the juice when it comes to the best styles of wines for summer sipping.

Is it the varieties’ intrinsic nature? Does proximity to the sea really give them a salty tang?

Are winemakers in these areas just more clued-in to the style of wines that work best with your feet in the sand and the roar of the surf in your ears?

Maybe a mix of it all?

Either way, there’s no doubt that if you want a great wine for the summer, think of places beside the sea as a good starting place.

There are loads of wines which just scream summer and beach holidays, accompanied by fresh seafood.

There’s Vinho Verde from northern Portugal, Txakoli from Spain’s Basque country, Muscadet from the Loire.

Heading into the Mediterranean we have the refreshing salty lick of Manzanilla Sherry, the herbal freshness of Xarel-lo in Catalonia, brisk Picpoul de Pinet and pale rosé from the southern French coast, stony Vermentino from Sardinia and Tuscany and the kaleidoscope of varieties from the Greek islands.

2. The faraway Mediterranean

And that’s just Europe we’ve been talking about. But don’t forget that much of the winemaking world operates on the same principals and proximity to the ocean in the warmer climes of the Americas, Africa and Antipodes is often essential to help moderate the temperature.

As such, a great many non-European regions are also seaside wines par excellence.

This is particularly true when many of these Mediterranean-esque regions are also producing wines made from grape varieties you’d expect to find in Europe, such as Albariño – which has seen an increase in worldwide plantings in recent years.

Large chunks of California, the Chilean littoral, the Cape in South Africa, Western and South Australia and the islands of New Zealand are great places for crisp and refreshing whites made from Sauvignon Blanc, Albariño, Semillon and so forth.

3. Beyond Provence

Finally, a word on rosé. Provence set the bar years ago with its brilliantly pale and limpid pinks.

These boosted rosé from being one of the has-been afterthoughts of global viticulture to a runaway hype-train of luxury labels and copycats.

But popularity comes at a price and Provence is now at a premium. However, you don’t have to look far to find wines that are essentially identical.

Both the nearby Languedoc and Roussillon produce extremely delicious rosés in much the same style as Provence and with the same grapes but for a fraction of the price.

Indeed, such has been the impact of pale Provence rosé, that around Europe and the world, you can now find your desire for chillable pink fulfilled by pretty much every country and region mentioned above.

Remember that Liz Gabay MW gives us a rundown each year not only of her pick of the latest Provence rosé releases, but her selection of the best rosés from around the world.

Below is a selection perfect summer white and rosé wines that have been tasted recently by the Decanter team or one of our esteemed experts.

With any luck it’ll give you some extra inspiration for something new to put in the fridge before the summer is through.

Decanter Cellar: 25 white and rosé wines for summer

Wines are listed white then rosé in score order

Related articles

• Provence white wines: Panel tasting results
• The rise of Bordeaux white wines
• The hidden wine gems of the Italian coast

For many years, Italian wines from the coast have primarily served as holiday treats or nostalgic souvenirs.

Once vital on water-scarce shores and islands, viticulture faded as tourism soared, and the remaining growers often shifted from distinctive – if extremely rustic – local styles to generic production.

Paradoxically, Bolgheri, a relative newcomer, became the country’s first sea-view wine hotspot, when Mario Incisa della Rocchetta of Sassicaia set a new standard for maritime Italy by first exploiting the combination of gravelly soils and cooling sea breezes.

But renewed interest in Mediterranean culture and increased competition are now driving coastal producers to revive ancient traditions and defy low yields and high labour costs by crafting small volumes of characterful, well-positioned wines.

A selection of must-try wines from the Italian coast listed below

The patchwork of climates and soils along Italy’s 7,419-kilometre coastline makes generalisations tricky, yet a thrilling freshness for such sun-kissed areas is the common thread among top coastal wines.

Some link this to maritime winds: ‘They provide elements like sodium and potassium, which add to the wines’ freshness when managed properly, strengthening their saline backbone,’ affirms Vincenzo Varchetta, co-owner of Radici Vive in Campania.

Yet, given marine residues are often modest in finished wines, other factors must also be considered.

‘The sandy or limestone soils of these areas and the phenolic tanginess of coastal varieties play a major role in shaping this peculiar identity,’ suggests Konstantin Spinetti, winemaker at Stella di Lemmen in Cinque Terre.

The Mediterranean’s thermoregulating effect results in modest rainfall and stable temperatures with moderate diurnal swings.

While such conditions would usually accelerate ripening, local grape varieties excel at slow maturation, achieving moderate alcohol and preserving aromatic integrity while expressing a captivating Mediterranean soul.

Liguria: Quintessentially coastal

With its narrow shape and precipitous ridges plunging into the sea, Liguria is Italy’s quintessential maritime wine region.

Despite limited cultivable space (just 46,000 hectolitres are produced annually), its often-terraced vineyards, constantly swept by sea breezes, yield extremely contemporary wines that are highly sought after for their herbal brightness and zesty acidity.

This complements the local cuisine, which relies on seafood, vegetables such as trombetta courgettes, and herbs like basil and parsley.

Vermentino, highly resistant to salt-laden winds, is the flagship variety here. The Pigato variety along the ‘Ponente’ (west coast) gives distinctive versions with Riesling-like nuances enhancing ageability, while Colli di Luni on the border with Tuscany offers the most perfumed and high-acid renditions, drawing on both sea and Apuan Alps.

Other local white varieties include Cimixa and Bianchetta Genovese on the Levante (east coast), yielding even lighter wines. Rossese, a promising red grape, thrives in the far-western Dolceacqua DOC.

No Ligurian wine area is more iconic than Cinque Terre, where traditional heroic viticulture is threatened by surging tourism, yet remains crucial for preserving the staggering vertical landscape around the five world-famous villages.

‘The vineyard area has plummeted from 900 to just 51 hectares in 50 years. Abandonment doesn’t only cause landslides but also makes viticulture more difficult for the remaining producers, as parasites proliferate in unmanaged plots,’ remarks Spinetti, who crafts eloquent, garrigue-scented wines from Stella di Lemmen’s biodynamically-farmed six-hectare plot on dramatic slopes, only reachable by monorail.

Mediterranean bonanza

More than for their salinity, coastal Tuscan reds often stand out for their ability to capture the aromas of the maritime vegetation surrounding the vines.

‘Libeccio [a south-westerly wind] disperses the essential oils of the aromatic plants among the bunches,’ says Silvia Menicagli of the Fornacelle winery in Bolgheri.

Varieties aside, the best whites in coastal Tuscany also blend the same macchia (scrubland) imprint with uncommon complexity.

Perhaps the most peculiar Tuscan coastal grape is Ansonaco/Ansonica, the only one to defy relentless winds and drought in the Tuscan archipelago.

In top terroirs like Giglio island’s granitic soils, this thick-skinned variety yields characterful, deep-coloured whites that bridge the gap between typical white and red wines.

With their tangy phenolics and light tannic bite, they match stewed rabbit with herbs, a common island dish.

Southern Riviera

Heading south, the Campania region is another tourist hotspot where vineyards overlook the Tyrrhenian Sea, both on the Amalfi Coast and Cilento, and on the island of Ischia, where the Biancolella grape yields light and herbal wines.

However, the Campi Flegrei area just north of Naples has witnessed the most remarkable upheaval recently. Consisting of volcanic slopes with almost ashy soils that surround active craters, the vines often boast breathtaking views of Capri and Ischia.

‘Volcanic sands favour the absorption of marine elements more than any other soil, making our Falanghina and Piedirosso exceptionally savoury,’ explains Varchetta.

A lovely summer red, Piedirosso blends Beaujolais-like juiciness and lightness with a saline zing and a smoky touch. When served slightly chilled, it works perfectly with Marinara or Margherita pizza.

The other coast

Less travelled than the west coast, except for Romagna’s bustling sandy shores, Italy’s eastern Adriatic coast mainly features either flat or gently sloping terrain.

Cool air currents from the Balkans compensate for the lower elevations, however, resulting in milder temperatures than in the west, especially in the northern and central sections.

The northeastern-most vineyards of Adriatic Italy lie near the Slovenian border.

Here, orange Malvasia or Vitovska from the rocky Karst plateau facing the Gulf of Trieste produce complex skin contact wines: extended maceration often elevates their aromatic expression and strengthens their austere, almost stony grip.

Heading south, red grapes take centre stage. Montepulciano yields full-bodied reds on the white cliffs of Mount Conero, the Marche region’s only coastal high peak.

However, Adriatic rosé best captures the maritime essence.

Pergola vineyards flanking Costa dei Trabocchi — named after the spider-like fishing engines dominating pebbly inlets — produce some of the most savoury Cerasuolo d’Abruzzo, a dark Montepulciano-based rosé suitable for matching with the traditional brodetto (fish soup with tomatoes).

Rosé is also a key wine in Puglia’s Salento peninsula, where intermingling airflows from the Adriatic and Ionian seas contribute to characterful expressions of Negroamaro and Susumaniello.

The island of Passito

While mainland Sicily boasts notable coastal vineyards, including those facing Marsala’s famous salt marshes, the region’s most prized maritime viticultural area lies off its coast.

An 84-kilometre island in the Sicilian channel, closer to Africa than to Sicily itself, Pantelleria was the first place in the world to earn the UNESCO Intangible Heritage recognition for its viticultural tradition.

‘Pantelleria is in a perilous area of the Mediterranean, so farmers preferred raising cattle and tending vineyards instead of fishing,’ explains Josè Rallo, co-owner of Donnafugata. Local growers train the iconic Zibibbo (Muscat of Alexandria) bush vines as low as possible to ensure they resist mighty winds.

A significant proportion of the grapes is picked in early August and dried under the sun to make Passito di Pantelleria, a luscious, raisiny wine that develops exotic, umami complexity with age.

This was demonstrated by a recent vertical of Ben Ryè, a benchmark expression defying the category’s downward commercial trend and matching both desserts and savoury cheeses (including Zibibbo-infused sheep’s milk tuma).

Under-the-radar

The quest for coastal gems continues in Sardinia. Vermentino is widespread, especially in the Gallura region in the north where it has its own DOCG, and often owes its velvetier texture to a touch of residual sugar.

However, the most fascinating coastal wines hail from century-old, ungrafted Carignano vineyards that almost touch the turquoise waters of the area and Sant’Antioco island in the southwest, surviving thanks to humidity and sandy soils that resisted the arrival of phylloxera.

Tiny islands are yet another treasure trove of heroic wines, as shown by Candidaterra in Ventotene, located 14 miles west off the coast of Lazio.

Once a prison for opponents of the Fascist regime, the 1.89km2 atoll is now a niche tourist destination, attracting those seeking a peaceful retreat.

A blend of Falanghina, Fiano and Greco co-planted on its white calcareous coast, Candidaterra’s Pandataria has an uncanny ability to evoke its rugged and enchanting ambience through a mix of marine scents and lusciousness from sun-drenched fruit.

It reaffirms once again the enormous potential of Italy’s under-the-radar coastal terroirs.

Visiting coastal wineries

While most Italian coastal wineries welcome visitors, space constraints and building regulations often mean the vineyards themselves are far more striking than the structures.

However, noteworthy exceptions exist.

For instance, Donnafugata’s stone cellar in Pantelleria is cozy and sleek, surrounded by an enchanting garden brimming with caper plants and flowers.

Fontefico in Abruzzo boasts an eye-catching lavender labyrinth and a glass-walled tasting room, offering views of the Adriatic Sea beyond olive groves and vineyards.

Though not directly sea-facing, Lunae in the Colli di Luni area is conveniently close to tourist hotspots like Cinque Terre and Versilia.

The estate features a state-of-the-art winery and a contemporary bistrot serving elegant, light dishes crafted from ingredients sourced directly from their orchard.

10 coastal Italian wines to try:

Related articles

• Wine lover’s guide to Etna
• Restaurants by the sea in Italy: 10 to try
• Expert’s Choice: Coastal Tuscany

When it comes to modern wine-drinking sensibilities, it’s clear that more and more people are turning to lighter styles of red wine with less noticeable oak (or none at all), and lower alcohol levels.

Frappato is one of a number of grape varieties answering to this growing trend, offering a perfect match of varietal character and terroir expression with its charmingly perfumed, light-bodied reds.

Scroll down for notes and scores of 18 delicious Frappato wines

Family trees

DNA analyses have demonstrated that the thin-skinned and vigorous yet low-yielding Frappato is the result of a natural crossing of Sangiovese and another, as yet unidentified, grape.

The wines certainly bear that Sangiovese-esque hallmark of bright red fruit, but Frappato has a lighter body and lighter tannins, with a more fragrant character typically leaning towards strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.

Although Frappato is almost exclusively grown in Sicily, there are a handful of wines being produced in California and South Australia. But the variety is perfectly adapted to the conditions in its heartland of Vittoria.

Situated in the baking-hot province of Ragusa in Sicily’s southeast, Vittoria lies on a similar latitude to Tunis in North Africa.

Equidistant from the Hyblaean mountains (‘Monti Iblei’) and the sea, the area benefits from constant breezes that significantly limit the threat of mildew and other diseases.

As a result, a notable proportion of wines here are made from organically or biodynamically farmed grapes.

The breezes also help to expel the warm air at night, allowing for high diurnal temperature swings that preserve acidity and aromatic compounds in the grapes.

Moderate alcohol

The typical soil in Vittoria is a thin layer of red sand over compact limestone. ‘This is what makes Vittoria special,’ explains Giusto Occhipinti of Cos winery. ‘It gives longevity [in the mouth] and lower alcohol.’

The sandy, well-drained topsoils don’t retain water, encouraging the vines to dig deep into the limestone bedrock.

The poor soils and lack of water prevent an accumulation of sugars in the grapes, helping to ensure alcohol levels remain moderate.

Although Frappato is more resilient than other Sicilian varieties, such as Nero d’Avola, drought is an increasingly common occurrence and producers may need to support their vines with irrigation.

‘The future of viticulture is precision water management,’ asserts Gaetana Jacono, proprietor of Valle dell’Acate, a family-run estate that has been making wine in Vittoria since the 19th century.

As well as producing mono-varietal wines – typically labelled as Vittoria DOC or Terre Siciliane IGT – Frappato partners Nero d’Avola in Sicily’s only DOCG, Cerasuolo di Vittoria.

The classic blend is 60/40 in Nero d’Avola’s favour, although some producers are tweaking this ratio to give Frappato more of a presence in the spotlight.

Frappato lends itself to being drunk slightly chilled, emphasising its gorgeously fragrant, thirst-quenching qualities on a summer’s afternoon.

Thanks to its light body and soft tannins, it’s also a great partner for all manner of foods; local winemakers are particularly fond of pairing chilled Frappato with fish.

The dexterity of Frappato: 18 wines in different styles

Related articles

• The rise and return of Italy’s indigenous varieties
• Arianna Occhipinti: Leading Frappato’s revival on Sicily
• A guide to Sicily’s native grape varieties

Given that a relatively small number of grapes thrive in soils created by thousands of years of lava flows, one might believe that wines from the Etna production zone in Sicily might not be all that dissimilar.

Yet there are marked differences in the best offerings due to factors such as vine age, vineyard elevation and orientation.

Combine that with the specialised planting systems in dozens of individual contrade and you soon realise that there is no one single Etna style or approach.

Below are insights from six top winemakers on the volcano, commenting on what makes their territory and their wines so distinctive.

Scroll down for wines from some of Etna’s star winemakers

Salvo Foti

For more than 40 years, Catania-born Salvo Foti has been a winemaking consultant for several wineries in Sicily, but for the last 30 years his work has been focused on Etna.

His own project, ‘I Vigneri’, represents a team of native Etna workers specialised not only in viticulture but also in building terraces and lava stone walls. The I Vigneri label represents wines exclusive to the Foti family.

Foti together with his two sons, Simone and Andrea, produce multiple examples of Etna Rosso and Etna Bianco, along with an Etna Rosato and an Etna Rosato Frizzante.

In his ‘Aurora’ Etna Bianco – a blend of 90% Carricante with 10% Minella – he presses whole clusters and ages the wine in stainless steel tanks for five months.

The 2023 displays outstanding complexity, with notes of lemon oil, tangerine and chalk, and a distinct sapidity on the finish.

Arguably his most remarkable wine is his ‘Vinudilice’ rosato, a field blend of at least ten varietals of 100- to 150-year-old vines situated at 1,200 metres above sea level; one of the highest vineyards on Etna.

Foti explains that at this elevation, grapes such as Nerello Mascalese and Carricante struggle to survive. In their place, Alicante, Grecanico and Minella rosso (today a rarity) were planted.

Foti remarks that for Vinudilice, which he describes as ‘unique, extreme and unrepeatable’, the blend of grapes ‘cannot be decided by me, because it is what the vineyard gives’.

Emiliano Falsini

Tuscan-born Emiliano Falsini is a consulting oenologist for wineries in a dozen Italian regions, but it’s his work in Etna that has brought him his greatest critical success.

Here, he can make outstanding wines that, in his words, are ‘elegant, complex, but not complicated’.

Falsini currently consults for four Etna estates: Maugeri, Girolamo Russo, Graci and Massimo Lentsch. He also produces Etna Rosso and Rosato under his own label from a contrada near Randazzo on Etna’s north side.

He uses very little Nerello Cappuccio, preferring Nerello Mascalese, as he believes this variety on its own ‘can best express the energy, elegance and minerals of the Etna territory’.

Falsini notes the work that has been done by producers in recent years. ‘A great job has been done in the vineyards, but especially in the cellar with investments in technology.

Today, we produce Etna whites that can age in a fantastic way and that in my opinion are among the most interesting in the Italian panorama.’

Regarding his own approach, Falsinis remarks, ‘a style made of respect for the grape variety and for the individual contrade, where man’s work is at the service of nature. I want to make wines that people can understand and through which they can discover the territory to which they belong.’

Calogero Statella

Given that Calogero Statella was born in the small town of Nicolosi – a small town on the south slope of Etna – it seems quite appropriate that he has become one of the most successful oenologists of the volcano; first with Tenute delle Terre Nere in 2008, and then in 2016 with his own label, Famiglia Statella.

Regarding Nerello Mascalese, Statella believes this is a grape that, like Pinot Noir in Burgundy, is strongly influenced by the growing environment.

‘This leads to variable production and quality performances depending on the soil and climate characteristics of the area’, he explains.

He notes that acidity could be very high in vineyards at high altitudes or those with deep and fertile soils, or acidity could be lesser from vineyards at lower altitudes or in lean, shallow soils.

At Terre Nere, there are pre-phylloxera vines between 90 and 125 years old; even more with certain plots.

‘The yield of these vineyards is very low,’ Statella explains, ‘because they are very weak plants, but the quality of the grapes is absolutely top.’

His winemaking system for these grapes is like others he works with, but with a very delicate management of skin contact. ‘They are small batches, so I prefer manual punching down and very few pumpovers.’

Frank Cornelissen

It should be no surprise that Frank Cornelissen, a former mountain climber, selected Etna as his winemaking home. ‘I was looking for great terroir to make absolute top wines,’ he explains.

‘Not only are there complex subsoils, but northern Etna has a rare microclimate with cold winters, the altitude, and sandy soils that enables you to plant ungrafted.’

After 25 years of research and experimentation, Cornelissen is today considered one of Etna’s most singular and highly respected winemakers.

He does not vinify in wood, preferring to use fibreglass vessels ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 litres for fermenting, and 2,500 to 7,000 litres for ageing.

His single-site wines are labelled with the initials of the individual contrada – ‘MC’ for Monte Colla, ‘VA’ for Vigne Alte and so on.

Sourcing fruit from vineyards of 30- to 90-plus years of age, his reds are 100% Nerello Mascalese, a grape that in his words ‘has a kind of chameleon characteristic’.

For Cornelissen, this variety can express Burgundian finesse, resembling Pinot Noir, while for bigger vintages he perceives ‘a more noticeable Nebbiolo characteristic’.

Ever the individualist, Cornelissen’s remarkable white, Munjebel Bianco VA is primarily Grecanico Dorato and Coda di Volpe, with only 10% Carricante. He is not a fan of Carricante, arguing that it is ‘high in acidity, but not very profound’.

He explains that he decided to keep the vineyard, planted in 1925, as ‘a historical expression of Etna’.

Alberto Graci

The goal of Catania-born Alberto Graci at his eponymous estate in Passopisciaro has been one of expressing the territory in a pure and more refined way; this is true for the vineyards and in the cellar. ‘Biodiversity is key,’ he states.

‘Planting trees, maintaining dry-stone walls, and thoughtful farming all enhance the complexity of our wines and protect our land.’

Graci excels at both white and red wines. Carricante, the sole grape in his whites, ‘retains acidity even in warm vintages and has a salty, mysterious character that makes it unique’.

His top reds are sourced from two different contrade – Arcurià and Feudi di Mezzo.

He explains that Arcurià, made from both young and old vines, always gives ‘a transparent, elegant and fine wine’, while Feudo di Mezzo, made exclusively from 85-year-old vines, is a more powerful offering.

Graci loves the uniqueness of Etna. ‘Its Mediterranean character and citrus-driven energy cannot be replicated, yet it belongs to the family of refined, elegant wines. So, those who love Burgundy, or the great wines of the Langhe, often fall in love with Etna as well. Nerello Mascalese can age beautifully for 20 years or more.’

Giuseppe Russo

Twenty years after his first harvest, Passopisciaro-born Giuseppe Russo has risen to the top of Etna’s winemakers at Girolamo Russo, yet he still faces the reality of finding enough workers during harvest.

‘This can cause slowdowns and the risk that the grapes will be ruined, as the manual work and scrupulous selection that I do does not allow me to go quickly in the harvest.’

Russo’s signature wines are his various Etna Rosso from individual contrade situated in northern Etna. He describes ‘the finesse, the elegance, the fruit and the different character’ that Nerello Mascalese can assume from one district to another.

To obtain this, Russo vinifies all the districts in the same way, with soft punching down and short macerations. ‘This ensures that the character of each territory emerges by itself’, he says.

Russo comments that he finds his wines closer to Burgundy than to Piedmont, especially in the cooler and less dry years. He is also recognised for his white wines, made primarily from Carricante, a variety he admires for its intricacy.

‘The best feature of Carricante is its ability to produce wines that grow qualitatively over time; wines that are very enjoyable in their youth, but 15-18 months after the harvest acquire great complexity and depth… the volcanic notes blend perfectly with the fruit, floral and savoury sensations.’

Tom’s pick of Etna from its star winemakers

Related articles

• Searching for the soul of Nerello Mascalese
• Sicily Report 2024: Etna’s golden opportunity
• Wine lover’s guide to Etna

Had I been writing 50, even 20 years ago about Nerello Mascalese – the Sicilian grape variety believed to have originated on the plain of Mascali, between Mount Etna’s eastern slope and the coast – this story would have been simple: an unfussy, high-yielding grape that ripens reliably and embraces Sicily’s oppressive heat.

Its thin skin makes a bright red wine with good acidity and limited tannins. Grown around Mt Etna, the vast majority of Nerello Mascalese – with its serviceable amount of alcohol and body – was transported as must [the freshly pressed, unfermented juice of grapes with all the accompanying solids] in bulk down the mountain on a dedicated train track that delivers it to the port of Riposto.

Whereupon, it was shipped, mostly to France and the Italian mainland, stripped of its identity and used to beef up generic red wine blends.

But today, Nerello Mascalese is taken seriously as a standalone variety and the story has become far less straightforward.

Scroll down for six Nerello Mascalese recommendations

Intriguing, inscrutable – and delicious

With considerate wine-growing that respects the fruit and allows terroir to shine through, this grape reveals itself to have many, sometimes seemingly contradictory, facets. The wines it makes today can take you into extraordinary territory, bordering on inscrutable, in the yummiest of ways.

At their best, they are bright, mineral-driven wines, charming and food-friendly, yet bearing a poetry and gravitas that brings to mind fine Burgundy or Barbaresco. This is an easygoing variety whose beauty can make one weep!

If complexity and evanescence, alongside deliciousness, is what makes for great wines, then today’s Nerello Mascaleses are intriguingly great.

How does that happen? And how can Nerello Mascalese at all price points show exceptionally well when young and fresh, but also be suited to being aged for a decade or more?

Preparing for this article, as the contradictions mounted, I found myself asking: what are the essentials of Nerello Mascalese? Wherein lies its soul? The only thing for it was to travel to the heart of its production: Mount Etna.

Hard to define

Until recently, it wasn’t actually that easy to find 100% Nerello Mascalese wines; before 2012, both tradition and the law required Etna DOC Rosso to contain a minimum of 80% Mascalese and 10%-20% Nerello Cappuccio.

Indeed, field blends with additional, often unidentified varieties, such as Grenache, were the norm. Many Sicilian reds calling themselves Nerello Mascalese are still made this way, and they offer a clue as to why the variety can seem so hard to characterise.

Field blends may have good intentions but they were not going to help me understand Nerello Mascalese. For that, I needed to pay a visit to Benanti, a leader in promoting and producing first-rate wines on Etna.

In the 1980s, Giuseppe Benanti (pictured, above), an avid wine lover and native Sicilian, began a passion project, purchasing and developing vineyards in four (eventually five) distinctive contrade, or vineyard ‘zones’, around Mt Etna.

He applied rigorous scientific methods to understand the complex set of soil and climate variables that account for the great diversity found among all the contrade in this volcanic terroir.

To ensure a full expression of the vineyard in each bottle, Benanti limited the winemaking factors influencing his fruit by restricting himself to a select few yeast strains isolated from his vineyards and cellar, fermenting in stainless steel and ageing his reds in predominantly neutral oak.

Today, Giuseppe’s twin sons, Salvino and Antonio, remain faithful to this approach. They are quick to playfully rib each other, but they are quicker still to speak passionately and seriously about their wines and their DOC.

‘Of course, making wine must leave some room for a personal approach, but we think that there should be some kind of limit to the creativity… to respect the place.’ In doing so, Giuseppe says, one can clearly see ‘how obvious it is that the local climate, and culture, and soil really characterise the wine’

Terroir tells all

And herein lay the answer I had been looking for: these wines are changeable because this variety is exceptional in allowing for the purest translation of terroir. The growing conditions on Mt Etna are so varied.

It has four active craters spewing lava and about 300 extinct craters, each with its own unique soil composition. The age of all the lava flows and their state of erosion is another factor, dating from thousands of years old to almost present day.

Then there is the elevation and aspect of each vineyard site, from about 400m to 1,000m above sea level. The south side of the volcano sees hot sunny days tempered by ocean winds, producing generous, approachable wines, whereas the climate on the northern slope is much cooler, giving elegance and austerity.

The eastern slope – cool, wet and windy, exposed as it is to the ocean – is where Carricante, Sicily’s great white grape, thrives. The west is not favoured for viticulture and is not a part of the Etna DOC.

Salvino Benanti explains: ‘Mascalese has surpassed the boundaries of the Etna appellation… with completely different results. It will become a bigger wine [when] made in warmer conditions.’

Indeed, the majority of Nerello Mascalese is grown not on Etna, but throughout the rest of the island. A notable example comes from Fabio Sireci and Melissa Muller, husband and wife proprietors of Feudo Montoni in the centre of Sicily.

At 500m-750m on a high plateau between two mountains, surrounded by wheat fields, the property is remote and in effect cut off from all other viticulture on the island.

According to Sireci, wine has been made here for more than 2,000 years; the present-day winery structure was purpose-built in 1469.

The Sireci family bought the property in the late 19th century and have been quietly making wine in the traditional method – that is, vinification and ageing in concrete vessels, using native yeasts and relatively cool fermentations – ever since.

The land has always been farmed organically and has been certified for the last 20 years.

A reference point

Feudo Montoni’s isolation has given it an important place in Sicilian viticulture. The first of the Sirecis to own the property brought in vines from Catania, the municipality at the base of Mt Etna.

No vine stock has been introduced to the estate since then. All new vineyard material is propagated solely from vines already on the property.

This means that Montoni’s Nerello Mascalese stands as a genetic reference point, its DNA helping to confirm that this variety originated as a natural cross between Sangiovese and Mantonico Bianco [as cited on the VIVC Vitis International Variety Catalogue].

‘Now, of course, Nerello Mascalese is very famous in Etna, where it has a beautiful expression,’ Sireci says. ‘But Nerello Mascalese is not a Sicilian original grape. Looking back several millennia, we think that Vitis vinifera in Italy came from Georgia and the Caucasus mountains, passing through Greece, and arrived in Puglia, in the south of Italy.’

It took Sireci 20 years and the encouragement of Muller to decide to bottle his Mascalese as a standalone variety.

‘There is too much Nerello Mascalese that’s not made with a clear vision of what it can be,’ he laments. ‘Twenty years ago, our wines were not understood by the market.’

But now he and Muller have happily found a new audience that appreciates their delicate, true-totype red and rosé iterations of Nerello Mascalese, which stand as further testament to the grape’s ability to express terroir when treated with care and restraint.

Territories new

At home in northern California, I approach Kevin Harvey, North America’s sole producer of Nerello Mascalese, curious to understand what he sees in the variety that justifies the lengths to which he has gone to produce his wine.

With a proven track record in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay under his Rhys Vineyards label, Harvey is a vintner who does his homework and doesn’t believe in half-measures – he and his team had to import the Nerello Mascalese vine stock from Europe and put it through the UC Davis Clean Plant Program before propagation and planting could begin.

They spent years studying the soil and climate of their site to ensure that it would be a good match and they engaged Sicilian winemaker Salvo Foti as their mentor. And – just like winemakers on Mt Etna – they have found that meticulous viticulture, a hands-off approach and minimal new oak has brought about the best results.

‘We really only like varieties that express terroir,’ he explains. ‘Like all Italian wines, it’s a great food wine.’ But more importantly, he says: ‘Some of these great sites [in California], as they continue to warm up, are going to need grapes that are a better match [to the climate].’

Nerello Mascalese’s ability to retain acidity in hot climes makes it a great fit.

After visiting the vines, I sit down with Harvey and his team. It just so happens that this is the first vertical of their Nerello Mascalese they’ve tasted together.

Harvey jokes: ‘You need at least three wines for a flight and [with the 2021 ready] we finally have that!’

The success of his Aeris label means they can now provide a California benchmark – and vine stock – to others looking for varieties with the potential to thrive in our changing climate.

Key to its appeal

Nerello Mascalese’s changeability – in the bottle, in the glass, from site to site – is what defines it and makes it so appealing.

Salvino Benanti echoes a conclusion I had been coming to: ‘I think the beauty of Nerello Mascalese is that it can be enjoyed young and with age.’

This is not a fickle soul, but an ever-evolving entity in a constant state of flux; impossible to capture but worthy of the attempt. We are only just scratching the surface of what this grape is capable of, both on Mt Etna and around the world.

I for one am delighted that this is a story that will need to be written time and again.

Nerello Mascalese: Nowell-Smith’s six to try

Related articles

• Etna Rosso: Panel tasting results
• The elegance of Bertani: From ‘cru’ Valpolicella to legendary Amarone
• Rosso di Montalcino: Superb Sangiovese on the rise

‘The future of wine at world level is Italy,’ declared Luigi Moio, president of the OIV (International Wine Organisation), professor of oenology at the University of Naples, and owner of the Quintodecimo winery in Campania, during a conference on Etna in September.

Moio emphasised the importance of late ripening grape varieties in the face of climate change: ‘If we talk about Nerello, Carricante, Grillo…late [ripening] varieties can be different and if you deal with your vineyard well, there are some advantages.’

It’s easy to get carried along with the growing enthusiasm for Sicily’s wines. Grillo has transitioned from the mass-production Marsala grape to one that offers an intriguing array of dry styles, from aromatic, thiol-rich passion-fruited expressions, to bright, saline and lemony bottles.

It’s a great crossover grape for lovers of Sauvignon Blanc or Chablis, and ‘maybe one of the most interesting Sicilian grapes,’ according to Alessio Planeta of Planeta winery.

Grillo’s potential is underlined by the ‘Officina del Vento’ project of Italy’s three Masters of Wine – Gabriele Gorelli MW, Andrea Lonardi MW and Pietro Russo MW – who are releasing their first wine from a single hectare of formerly abandoned Grillo vines in the Stagnone nature reserve in Marsala.

And Carricante – Etna’s number-one white grape – is increasingly made in a reduced, flinty, Puligny-esque style, which really plays to the grape’s strengths. While Grillo is expressive from day one, Carricante (especially those examples from Etna) is a cellar beauty which only shows its true character after several years.

This duo – Grillo in the west and Carricante in the east – represents perfectly, in my mind, the bright, all-embracing future of Sicily.

Notes and scores for some of Sicily’s best new wines below

On the red front, there’s Nerello Mascalese which, like Carricante, isn’t totally contained to Etna – but it’s on the volcano that you’ll find the finest examples which showcase all of its perfumed elegance.

Nero d’Avola is Sicily’s most widely planted red grape and at its best it can be remarkably balanced and drinkable these days. But there are still far too many disjointed, over-oaked or jammy examples to be able to say that real progress has been made – yet.

Despite the wealth of indigenous varieties on the island, it would be unwise to overlook wines made from international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

The area of Monreale, near Palermo in the west, is gaining a real reputation for the quality of its Syrah, while Zisola’s Achilles is a beautiful example of the variety made from alberello vines grown near Noto, in the southeast of the island.

Sustainability

Sicily’s sustainable credentials strengthened even further this year as the SOStain foundation (founded in 2020 by five founding members and now counting close to 50 companies) achieved its aim of having a dedicated bottle factory on the island.

Using 90% recycled glass sourced locally, it’s ‘an enormous change for Sicily,’ according to Alessio Planeta, who, along with Tasca d’Almerita spearheaded the initiative.

‘Sometimes we [used to] buy empty bottles from north Italy, sometimes from France’, Planeta explained. Corrado Maurigi, estate manager at Tasca d’Almerita, told me during a visit to London that the new facility not only utilises recycled glass but also produces lighter bottles – weighing 410g compared to around 600g for a conventional bottle.

Sicily: Vintages in brief

2022

A wet spring delayed budbreak, while the hot and dry growing season encouraged some producers to resort to irrigation. The vines were refreshed with August rains, and the quality on the whole was high.

Frank Cornelissen, located on the north side of Etna, noted that he picked the grapes for Magma a week earlier even than the record early harvest of 2021, and remarked that his 2022s demonstrate higher pH and lower acidity than usual.

Many 2022s are generous in fruit and with more density than usual, which – combined with lower acidity in some cases – makes for delicious early- to mid-term drinking compared to the longer-lived 2020s and 2021s.

2023

Walking the vineyards in 2024, it seems many producers are still reeling from the dramatic losses of 2023, when peronospora (downy mildew) ripped through much of the island – and elsewhere in Europe – thanks to unfortunately timed rains during spring flowering.

Record heat and drought through the summer followed – an increasingly familiar story – and in response, a number of producers I spoke to carried out heavy green harvests to reduce the stress on the vines, in some cases limiting yields to just one or two bunches per vine.

2023, then, makes for an interesting vintage: ‘It’s very different to 2022,’ stated Marco Nicolosi-Asmundo of Barone di Villagrande in Etna’s eastern commune of Milo.

It’s too early to pass any pronouncement on the reds, many of which are still in an embryonic state, but the whites released this year certainly differ from the 2022s in terms of concentration, which is typically more pronounced due to the yield reductions.

2024

Harvest began up to 15 days earlier than usual, accelerated by drought – due to a dry winter and spring – and higher-than-average temperatures. The first bunches picked on Sicily this year were Pinot Grigio for the Settesoli cooperative in Menfi on 18 July.

There was no snow on Etna’s peaks over the winter of 2023/24, which Alberto Cusumano of Alto Mora said he had ‘never seen before’. This exacerbated another severe drought this summer, which Alberto explained has upset the balance of the grapes.

Consequently, his Nerello Mascalese – which grows at 900 metres above sea level in the contrada of Guardiola – has ripened faster than even the estate’s Carricante, grown in nearby Linguaglossa; another first for him.

Antonio Rallo, CEO of Donnafugata and president of the Sicilia DOC consorzio, told me that there have been ‘bigger losses’ in yield than even 2023 – but in 2024 it wasn’t as a consequence of peronospera, but of the heat and drought. He explained that on Etna, ‘Nerello Mascalese was really a nightmare,’ with losses of over 50%, while Carricante was down 20%.

One problem that is fast coming into focus as more and more producers turn to emergency irrigation is that Sicily just doesn’t have the infrastructure to capture and store suitable amounts of rainwater, so even when it does arrive, much of it goes to waste.

In a region so dedicated to sustainability, it’s a missed trick and something that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Etna’s moment looms

The Etna consorzio is awaiting ratification of its application for DOCG status, which is expected to come in 2026 or 2027. ‘Optimistically, I believe that in two to three years, we will be able to bottle wine called ‘DOCG’,’ announced president of the Etna DOC consorzio and owner of Cottanera winery, Francesco Cambria.

If (or more likely when) this happens, Etna’s producers will no doubt find more eyes on them. The production regulations are also set to change, for example to allow spumante from Carricante as well as the existing Nerello Mascalese, to lower maximum yields for contrada-labelled wines, and to permit the addition of the commune name on the label if all the grapes come from the same area.

Assuming the ratification in Rome, Etna will likely begin to see an increase in wine tourism – 2025 will see the introduction of a direct flight from New York to Catania for the first time – higher demand for its wines, and perhaps also higher prices as a consequence. This, then, is a golden opportunity to visit the wineries and taste the wines before everything gets a bit ‘Barolo’.

A golden opportunity for Etna itself is the tricky 2024 growing season, where the abundance of old vines – with their deep roots – has helped to mitigate the lack of moisture and punishing heat. It’s in difficult rather than straightforward vintages that the quality of a winemaker, their vineyards, and the region as a whole, are revealed in their truest form.

View all Sicily tasting notes from the report to see top scorers and more!

Producers to watch

Buscemi

A new and exciting discovery on Etna for me this year is Buscemi. Located in the commune of Bronte at 980 metres above sea level on the north slope of Etna, it feels like an isolated and wild part of the volcano.

Outside of the DOC zone and at 980 metres, it’s pushing the limit of viticulture – a fact emphasised by the observation that the olives when I visited in late June were noticeably delayed in their development compared to those found at lower altitudes.

The small vineyard holding, surrounded by olive and fruit trees, was gifted to Mirrella Buscemi on her wedding day by her new husband, Etna pioneer, Alberto Graci. The land was once owned by Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson, who was made Duke of Bronte by King Ferdinand III of Sicily in 1799, following a successful action against the invading French forces of Napoleon.

Buscemi is a team effort – the wines are vinified at the Graci winery in Passopisciaro, about 20km to the east – yet Alberto is quick to point out the differences.

‘Mirrella only works with alberello [bush vines]; I don’t have this dogma,’ he says. And while Graci focuses on Nerello Mascalese and Carricante, Mirrella’s old vineyards are also peppered with Grenache and Grecanico vines. ‘I’m very jealous of Mirrella, the complexity of this place…it’s a beautiful mosaic of small cru,’ he concludes.

Buscemi did not produce a red in 2023 due to the dramatic losses caused by peronospora. Graci points out, however, that the circumstances were very different on the sunnier, warmer south side, where his vineyards used for Idda, the joint-project with Angelo Gaja, lost nothing.

Sciara

Another producer to highlight this year is Hong Kong-born Stef Yim, who was formerly an LA-based Master Sommelier before turning his hand to winemaking, first in California, then in Madiran, France. He arrived on Etna in 2015 but, explained that he had originally been looking to buy some land in Tenerife.

Aside from the isolation of Tenerife, he was drawn to Etna for its altitude, complex soils, old vines and cast of pioneers already operating on the volcano. ‘The altitude is very important to me. It’s why I moved to Etna,’ he told me, adding ‘volcanic soil is just amazing…magnesium, potassium that’s off the chart, silica, iron.’

It’s clear that Etna’s potential really caught his imagination, and his winemaking follows a minimal intervention path much like some of the volcano’s leading figures. ‘I met Salvo Foti, Frank [Cornelissen]…they are inspirations,’ he said.

Stef’s search for the perfect vineyards has resulted in planting what is claimed to be the highest vineyard in Europe. Despite experts at the University of Palermo telling him that the vines would never reach full ripeness, Stef planted 4,500 vines by hand on dramatic terraces at 1,520 metres above sea level on the south slope of Etna.

For context, this is over 50% higher than the maximum altitude permitted by the Etna DOC. And the vines aren’t your typical Nerello Mascalese – the vineyard is home to Pinot Nero, Grenache, and Pinot d’Aunis. ‘If you plant Grenache at high altitudes, it gives finesse like no other places,’ he asserts.

A taste of Sicily:

View all Sicily tasting notes from the report

Related articles

• Wine lover’s guide to Etna
• Etna Rosso: Panel tasting results
• Arianna Occhipinti: Leading Frappato’s revival on Sicily

Marco de Grazia came to Etna in 1999 with the aim to make terroir-driven wines on the Sicilian volcano. Already well-known as one of the most important distributors of Italian wine in the United States, he was also one of the leading figures of the Barolo Boys, who revolutionised winemaking in Piedmont in the 1980s and 1990s, introducing modern winemaking and an international aesthetic.

Today, he grows grapes on approximately 45 hectares of vineyards between 400 and 1,000 metres above sea level. Some of the vines are over 100 years old, dating back to before the coming of phylloxera.

An exclusive opportunity to taste 13 vintages of De Grazia’s Etna rosato from his Sicilian winery, Tenuta delle Terre Nere – seated on the northern slope of Etna, close to the town of Randazzo in Contrada Calderara – was impossible to refuse, and so I made a journey to the volcano this May.

Scroll down to see notes and scores from this Etna rosato vertical

The birth of Terre Nere’s rosato

‘My rosé production started by chance. My daughter, who was two years old in 2007, went around in the cellar saying, “And me? Pink, pink, pink!” I had already painted the cellar in her favourite colour but I had 5,000 kilos of Nerello Mascalese that I did not know what to do with and thought, why not make a rosé for her?’ he explains with a laugh.

From 4,000 bottles in its first vintage, 2007, production today is is around 40,000 bottles a year. Rosé production on Etna in general has also increased significantly, from 264 hectolitres in 2012 to 2,581hl in 2019, accounting for 8% of the total DOC production (2019).

‘The rosé trend exploded in 2018. Before that, there was no interest except for a chef in Taormina who bought it. Today, it is a bestseller, even in Provence – a great satisfaction for us,’, De Grazia tells me.

The process

The grapes for the rosato are selected from different vineyards every year, depending on the vintage, but it is only made with Nerello Mascalese. ‘We avoid the Nerello Cappuccio because it gives too much colour,’ says De Grazia. The grapes are picked earlier than for the reds, to retain freshness and avoid too much alcohol.

‘We make between two and five batches of grapes picked at different moments and let them ferment in separate tanks. We destem the grapes for the rosé as the last ones in the evening, and we leave the skins in contact with the must during the night before we rack. We don’t look for a particular colour; it is what it is,’ he explains.

Depending on the vintage, De Grazia decides how to blend the different batches. In cool vintages, he might let one of the batches go through malolactic fermentation for a smoother mouthfeel, while in hot vintages, when the grapes tend to release colour and tannins faster, the skin contact is shorter.

‘My ideal rosé is a wine that has the freshness and spring-like quality of a white wine, the substance of a red wine, and this delicate balance depends on the vintage.’

Potential and versatility

Tenuta delle Terre Nere’s rosatos have all of this. They are expressive and nuanced yet also with great ageability as well as drinkability: The 2010 is incredibly complex, with the intensity of a red wine and the dynamic, fresh, and elegant mouthfeel of a white wine – just like De Grazia’s idea of perfection.

‘There is a fashion of making whites and rosés in a reductive style, focusing on primary aromas and that are released quickly, and of course, this immediate fruit is captivating, but they are without depth and will not last. I am not of this school,’ declares Marco, who releases his rosé in April rather than in February like most other producers on Etna.

‘I don’t think there is a reason to age a rosé, but this vertical tasting shows the potential of Etna and how versatile the Nerello Mascalese grape is: you can make sparkling, rosé and red wines – from youthful to ageworthy ones. There are few places in the world like this,’ he concludes.

The latest vintages of Tenuta delle Terre Nere’s rosato are fragrant and elegant but also multilayered and deep. The vintages 2020, 2019, and 2018 are in a phase of evolution that means they could easily be taken for an aged white wine from the volcano, with aromas of flint, hazelnut and saffron, while older vintages have developed the complexity more commonly associated with red wine.

‘My daughter is an adult now. She doesn’t drink much wine, but she loves the aromas of her rosé wine – at least that is something!’ says De Grazia with a big smile.

Tasting 13 vintages of Tenuta delle Terre Nere Rosato:

Related articles

• Sicily report: Latest releases tasted from this extraordinary island
• Expert’s choice: Italian rosé – 18 fine wines to try
• A guide to Etna’s diverse wine styles

Anthony Rose, Susan Hulme MW and Jason Millar tasted 109 wines, with 3 Outstanding and 41 Highly recommended.

Etna Rosso: Panel tasting scores

109 wines tasted

Exceptional 0

Outstanding 3

Highly recommended 41

Recommended 49

Commended 11

Fair 4

Poor 1

Entry criteria: producers and UK agents were invited to submit their red wines classified as Etna DOC Rosso, Etna DOC Rosso Riserva or IGP Terre Siciliane, made using a minimum of 80% Nerello Mascalese or Nerello Cappuccio

In his Native Wine Grapes of Italy, Ian d’Agata writes: ‘Prior to 2000, nobody talked about Nerello Mascalese, or Nerello Cappuccio, its stablemate.’ Today, he says, things ‘couldn’t be more different, and the Etna area has become, without question, Italy’s single hottest wine production zone’.

Whether or not intended, there is a degree of irony in the word ‘hottest’ here, because – with all due respect to the reality of climate change – the huge Sicilian mountain attracting publicity this year for puffing volcanic vortex rings is distinctly colder and wetter than the rest of the island.

The Etna DOC was established in 1968, but it wasn’t until the ‘noughties’ that it saw the widespread adoption of indigenous grape varieties, most notably the light-coloured, late-ripening Nerello Mascalese.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores from the Etna Rosso panel tasting

Barolo of the south

Among the pioneers was Barone di Villagrande, soon followed by Benanti, then a new wave of early adopters such as Passopiscario, Terre Nere and Frank Cornelissen in the north. This new wave turned into a tsunami as leading producers such as Planeta, Donnafugata and Gaja piled in.

Despite the unifying volcanic factor and the predominance of Nerello Mascalese as the principal red grape variety, the soils of Etna are a mosaic of terroirs at altitudes from 450m to 1,100m and differences in exposures on the north, east, southeast and southwest slopes.

Most of the best wines tasted here were the contrada wines: wines, that is, from the 142 districts (since nine new ones were defined in late 2022) that form a blueprint of a cru system on Etna. These are serious reds that can be enjoyed in the medium to long term.

It was gratifying to note that the wines with the best scores were from a mix of established names that helped put Etna on the map and new artisanal producers bringing new energy to the dynamic mix.

Etna has been called ‘the Barolo of the South’, and some of the wines here lent weight to the suggestion that Nerello Mascalese is the closest there is to Nebbiolo outside Piedmont.

Yet it has its own authentic identity with specific floral, spicy and herbal aromas and delicious red fruit flavours that underline its volcanic terroir. Equally, in some ways, it’s not a long way from Sangiovese or Pinot Noir in a structure marked by refreshing acidity and softer tannins (than Nebbiolo).

Stylistic variety

The tasting revealed a wide variety of both quality and styles, and different approaches to winemaking. Quality veered from ripe, creamy and polished to austere and not very well made, sometimes with aged, washed out flavours.

Over-extraction of Nerello Mascalese can result in fibrous, chewy, dry characters: an unhappy marriage of oak and grape tannins. There were faults, too: not just corked wines but oxidation, excessive or clumsy oak and brettanomyces. We felt that there is a need to focus more on charm and energy in the fruit, especially given the premium pricing of Etna.

See all the wines from the Etna Rosso panel tasting

From a vintage perspective, 2020 emerged as the best of the younger vintages, with plenty of bright fruit and charm, making for many aromatic and delicate wines. 2021 was a hot year in which the aromas tend to be more subdued and drier fruit. 2019 was a good vintage, albeit tending to be more angular and less charming.

There wasn’t much to write home about in 2018, because, unlike the wider European pattern, it was virtually a washout.

Overall, we took many positives from this tasting. Indeed, we believe it cements Etna’s reputation as one of Italy’s great terroirs and Nerello Mascalese as one of its highest-quality indigenous varieties.

Etna Rosso panel tasting scores

Wines were tasted blind

The judges

Anthony Rose is a widely published writer on wine and sake, including for The Oxford Companion. A DWWA Regional Chair, his latest book is Fizz! Champagne and Sparkling Wines of the World (Infinite Ideas, 2021).

Susan Hulme MW is a wine writer, editor, educator and presenter specialising in Italy. She runs her own wine training and consultancy company Vintuition and travels regularly to Italy’s wine regions. Now focusing more on her writing, she is Italian editor for The Wine Independent.

Jason Millar is a freelance wine writer, consultant, judge and communicator, with a focus on South Africa and Italy. He was formerly buyer and director at retailer Theatre of Wine, and in 2016 was the top WSET Diploma graduate worldwide.

Related articles

• Piedmont Dolcetto: Panel tasting results
• Italy’s future greats: 10 wineries from Piedmont to Campania nominated by their peers
• Discover Campania: 12 wines worth seeking out from this exciting region

It all started from a single plot in ‘Contrada Fossa di Lupo’. Arianna Occhipinti acquired the first hectare of bush vines when she moved back to her hometown in Sicily, Vittoria, after having obtained an enology degree from the University of Milan.

Encouraged by her uncle, Giusto Occhipinti, who had co-founded the renowned COS estate, she established a garage winery, relying on rudimentary equipment and embracing a minimalist philosophy from day one.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for Arianna Occhipinti’s wines

When telling her story during my visit to the estate, she confessed that starting from scratch had been anything but easy.

‘While being Sicily’s only DOCG wine because of its historical relevance, Cerasuolo di Vittoria was virtually unknown, and the local Frappato grape had almost disappeared,’ she explained.

‘Rescuing forsaken old vineyards has been the toughest job: their owners received subsidies to uproot them, so they were reluctant to hand them out to a young farmer.’

Obstinacy, extreme passion, and a clear vision allowed her to reverse the downward spiral and become one of the most critically acclaimed independent growers of her generation.

Twenty harvests later, the influence of Arianna Occhipinti’s work goes beyond the up-and-coming Vittoria area and the Frappato variety, which she almost single-handedly put back on the international wine map.

Many talented emerging producers in Sicily admit having drawn inspiration from her game-changing approach: an almost Burgundian take on low-intervention winemaking mixed with Mediterranean viticultural know-how.

Arianna Occhipinti

Location: Vittoria, southeastern Sicily

Date established: 2004

Area under vine: 40 hectares

Age of the vineyards: Seven to 65 years.

Key grapes: Frappato, Nero d’Avola, Zibibbo, Albanello, Grillo.

Total production: approximately 150,000 bottles

Winemaking style: low-intervention, with grapes sourced from biodynamically farmed vineyards.

The quest for finesse

By making some of the brightest and juiciest wines in Italy, Arianna Occhipinti’s success stems, in part, from her unique ability to defy the stereotypes that Sicilian reds are simply hearty and jammy.

‘Vittoria is no Etna,’ Arianna explains. ‘Our vineyards are located in the southernmost corner of Eastern Sicily, and lie south of Tunis. Temperatures here often outstrip 40 degrees during summer, and annual rainfalls rarely exceed 300 millimetres.’

So how does she achieve a mid-weight and airy style that often draws parallels to Burgundy red?

The answer may lie beneath the ground: ‘Vineyards in Vittoria lie on an ancient seabed consisting of layers of sand and white limestone,’ explains Arianna.

‘The presence of the latter is crucial, as it absorbs the light, and lowers soil temperatures. It also drains water at the top, then releases it slowly during the driest months.’

Even Nero d’Avola, a grape known for giving smooth wines with slightly candied fruit, acquires a racier personality in the area around Vittoria.

‘All misconceptions about Nero d’Avola derive from producers having planted it on heavy clay-rich soils, especially in western Sicily,’ Arianna continues. ‘When planted on white limestone with little clay, it retains outstanding acidity, Champagne-like low PH, and moderate alcohol.’

Frappato’s unique identity

Genetic ties to Sangiovese, Nerello Mascalese and Gaglioppo all contribute to shaping the peculiar identity of Frappato, the indigenous grape she brought to fame.

When asked why she decided to market a mono-varietal Frappato as the estate’s flagship wine instead of relying on Cerasuolo di Vittoria’s typical blend of Nero d’Avola and Frappato, Arianna replies: ‘I conducted research on Frappato while studying enology, and realised it shared features like small berries, a thick skin, a light colour and high natural acidity with some of the best grapes in the world. The few single-variety versions available at the time were simple and easy going but I wanted to prove it could produce world-class wine.’

Late ripening and low-cropping, Frappato vines were frequently abandoned, especially in times when Sicilian farmers were often earning little more than €0.15 cents per kilo by selling grapes to cooperatives.

‘It only gives one bunch per shoot, yielding between 20 and 45 hectoliters per hectare. But it also accumulates sugar slowly, so alcohol falls in the 11-13% range,’ Arianna adds.

Frappato is also especially good for terroir expression, as shown by the three ‘vini di contrada’, originating from single vineyards within the commune of Vittoria.

‘The aim with them is to highlight the fact that variations in soil composition lead to significant differences in the aromatic profile,’ says Arianna.

Five out of 10 wines in the portfolio currently originate from a specific contrada, including her top-shelf, mono-varietal Grillo, called ‘Santa Margherita’ (‘SM’ for short), a recent addition to the line-up. Planted on white sandy-calcareous marl, Grillo behaves similarly to Frappato and Nero d’Avola, retaining impressively high acidity (often above 7g/l).

In the vineyard

Total vineyard plantings amount to 40 hectares on a plateau that ranges between 250 and 280 metres above sea level, within sight of the Iblean mountains and the Mediterranean Sea lying some 20 kilometres away as the crow flies.

Benefiting from the strongest solar radiation in Europe outside of Southern Spain, and from constant drying winds, disease pressure is usually minimal. ‘In a favourable vintage, you only need to treat the vines two or three times with copper and sulphur,’ notes Arianna.

Having started to follow the development of the natural wine movement in Italy while studying in Milan, Arianna also implemented biodynamic practices in her dry-farmed parcels, and she is currently considering obtaining biodynamic certification.

In the cellar

Harvest normally starts in the second week of September, and takes up to three weeks to complete. While the Nero d’Avola, Zibibbo, Albanello and Grillo are fully destemmed, up to 20% of the Frappato undergoes whole-bunch fermentation, which further enhances its sweetness, and adds a touch of herbal freshness.

As Arianna says: ‘Frappato’s small berries and ripe stems facilitate this process. With Nero d’Avola you can’t do the same as it tends to have greener stems.’

Fermentation occurs spontaneously and with little or no temperature control in concrete tanks. The reds then spend between two to four weeks on their skins, and punching down and pumping over are carried out as gently as possible to avoid excess extraction. Maceration for the whites varies from 48 hours for Grillo up to 12 days for the likes of Zibibbo and Albanello.

The Zibibbo, Albanello and the entry-level reds mature in concrete. The Nero d’Avola, Grillo and Frappato for the single-varietal wines normally spend between 12 and 16 months in 5,000 litre Slavonian and Austrian oak casks, and the Cerasuolo di Vittoria blend rests in French oak casks for at least 32 months.

The wines are then bottled unfiltered and unfined, with only minimal additions of sulphur dioxide.

The wines

Arianna Occhipinti’s wines have become increasingly refined and focused over time. At times they may still show a touch of reduction or just a bit of funkiness upon opening – derived from the uncompromising winemaking style, but never so much as to detract from their overall sense of purity.

Most importantly, they constantly evolve in the glass, taking on different shades after exposure to oxygen and retaining their freshness for days.

The 100% Frappato wines usually steal the show with their intoxicating aromatics and tremendous early-drinking appeal, yet the ‘Grotte Alte Cerasuolo di Vittoria’ and ‘Siccagno’, a pure Nero d’Avola, also deserve attention.

They may be less immediate at first, displaying a more structured palate and requiring longer to become fully expressive, but evolve gracefully in bottle, as shown by excellent back vintages of Siccagno (2014 and 2016) tasted recently.

The introduction of the ‘SM’ bianco marks yet another milestone: even though Grillo is commonly associated with western Sicily, it is likely to become a benchmark wine for the variety.

Looking ahead, Arianna has also started a new project to revive cork production in Sicily.

‘A large cork forest lies only 20 minutes away from Vittoria: it was nearly abandoned, so I started collaborating with a local cork producer who sources raw materials from there,’ she says. ‘It isn’t just a matter of achieving better quality control: the work of artisans is also essential for the preservation of ancient crafts and rural landscapes.’

Arianna Occhipinti: Latest vintages

Related articles

• A guide to Sicily’s native grape varieties
• Sicily 2023 vintage report
• Cerasuolo di Vittoria: 50 years of DOCG status

It seems hard to believe that Sicily was seen as the Italian answer to the New World in the early years of its wine renaissance: creamy Chardonnay and opulent international-style reds dominated the premium segment, while indigenous grapes were often relegated to bulk wine production.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 12 top wines from native Sicilian grapes

The situation has radically changed in recent years, and although international grapes may still be widespread on the island, the newfound interest in native varieties has fostered the rediscovery of regional identity.

Climate change has further strengthened this trend: not only do indigenous varieties yield more distinctive wines, they also prove better capable of withstanding increasingly torrid weather and drought.

Accrding to the regional Sicilia DOC consorzio, Sicily is home to over 70 native varieties – yet only 16 of them are currently permitted for wine production. However, the Valorizzazione biodiversità (Bi.Vi.Si.) initiative, and the G.R.A.S.P.O. project are currently promoting research on relic grapes, with a recently rescued one, Orisi, already producing small amounts of commercial wine.

Indigenous varieties Catarratto, Grillo, Nero d’ Avola and Zibibbo account for over 60% of the total planted surface area, followed by Inzolia (Ansonica), which is mostly used for blending. Extremely adaptable to different growing conditions, these varieties give a plethora of different wine styles.

Key native Sicilian grape varieties:

Catarratto

Sicily’s most widely planted white variety, accounting for one-third of the total surface area under vine, Catarratto is slowly earning recognition for its quality after decades of bulk wine production.

The Lucido and Extra Lucido biotypes are responsible for the qualitative upsurge of single-varietal examples, giving crisper and more phenolic wines than Catarratto Comune, and becoming almost Riesling-like when coming from higher altitude areas like the Monreale subzone in western Sicily.

‘Quality Catarratto is both immediately-pleasing and cellar-worthy,’ explained Benedetto Alessandro, winemaker at Alessandro di Camporeale. ‘It starts herbal and acidity-driven, then develops spicy and flinty complexity with ageing.’

Nero d’Avola

Native to the namesake town in Southeastern Sicily, Nero d’Avola has become the region’s most widespread red variety, representing approximately 15% of the total surface area under vine.

Exceptionally drought resistant, its early success derived from immediately-pleasing wines focusing on simple – and often jammy – fruit flavours.

While such wines still dominate production, forward-thinking producers have started picking earlier to preserve the grape’s naturally high acidity and achieve a brighter expression of fruit.

Geology also matters: limestone-rich soils in Noto/Pachino and Vittoria (southeast), Butera (centre), and Menfi (west) favour the production of elegant Nero d’Avola; either easy-drinking with blood orange and anchovy-like salinity complementing sweet cherry fruit, or bold and oak-influenced but still retaining excellent balance.

Zibibbo

Elsewhere known as Muscat of Alexandria, Zibibbo produces decadent sweet wines, most notably Passito di Pantelleria, obtained by letting slightly underripe grapes wither under the sun.

Declining sales of sweet wine, however, have incentivised the production of dry Zibibbo. Predominantly light and apricot-scented, the most characterful versions undergo a period of skin-contact and combine orange wine features with Passito-like aromatics.

Grillo

It is not difficult to understand why Grillo became the key grape of Marsala: a crossing of Zibibbo and Catarratto, it combines the aromatics of the former with the long-lasting phenolics of the latter.

Dry versions have become wildly popular, leading to a 400% increase in total plantings since 2000. Styles range from easygoing and bright, with reductive vinification enhancing thiol-derived herbs and florals, to richer and slightly oxidative, combining nutty complexity with tangy savouriness.

Frappato

Little-known until a few years ago, Frappato owes its recent success to its ability to defy scorching heat on the plateaus of southeastern Sicily.

Late-ripening, it yields medium-bodied, low-tannin and generally affordable reds that sport juicy red fruit flavours and moderate alcohol, pairing delightfully with tuna or swordfish.

Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG – a Nero d’Avola and Frappato blend – combines similar purity of fruit with a slightly richer structure and good cellaring potential.

Malvasia di Lipari

Grown on the volcanic slopes of the namesake islands, Malvasia di Lipari accounts for a small proportion of regional plantings, yet punches above its weight in terms of reputation.

Making up between 92% and 95% of the blend for Malvasia delle Lipari DOC, Malvasia di Lipari typically produces lighter sweet wines than Zibibbo Passito. The variety is also gaining momentum in dry Salina Bianco IGT: the best examples match raw seafood with their gentle terpenic aromas allied to mouthwatering salinity.

Perricone

Once the main red variety in western Sicily, producing Marsala Rubino, Perricone has only recently re-emerged from oblivion. While gritty tannins have long marred the reputation of dry examples, Marco Sferlazzo of Porta del Vento explains that, ‘excellent acidity and moderate alcohol are Perricone’s calling card in the age of global warming.’

By picking at full ripeness and downplaying extraction, top Perricone producers like Sferlazzo obtain wines achieving good fruit-tannin balance while retaining distinctive herbal freshness.

Native grapes of Etna

Assessing ampelography on Etna may prove challenging: old vineyards are home to dozens of relic varieties, such as Visparola, the progenitor of many Italian varieties, or the so-called ‘Francisi’, a group of mysterious red grapes (not necessarily originating from France as the name suggests).

However, two varieties dominate production on Etna: Carricante and Nerello Mascalese.

Carricante

Carricante accounts for at least 60% of Etna Bianco (80% for the Superiore category). ‘Carricante shows some affinity with Catarratto,’ explained Alessandro. ‘Both grapes are late-ripening, high-acid and rich in polyphenols. Carricante, however, is more neutral, requiring longer ageing to show best.’

Steeliness and tautness are commonly considered Etna Bianco’s distinctive features, but top-shelf versions – usually coming from a single contrada – go beyond that, often showing a Puligny-like combination of tension and creaminess, and evolving gracefully over time.

Nerello Mascalese

The key grape for Etna Rosso, Nerello Mascalese, defies all stereotypes about southern Italian reds. High altitude fosters its Nebbiolo-esque personality, and the wines range from perfumed and ethereal to deep, minerally and ageworthy – but still acidity-driven – especially when sourced from century-old bush vines.

Nerello Mascalese is often complemented by a dollop of Nerello Cappuccio (max. 20%), imparting darker hues to the light ruby colour and softening the palate with its richer fruit.

12 wines from native Sicilian grapes to try:

Related articles

• Sicily report 2023: Latest releases tasted from this extraordinary island
• A guide to Etna’s diverse wine styles
• Decanter Italy Experience 2024: A grand journey into Italian excellence

The east coast port of Catania is Sicily’s second-largest city after Palermo. Its central position means it is perfectly placed for trips south to Syracuse, Noto and Ragusa and north to Taormina and Mount Etna. As such it offers a gateway to the most interesting wine areas of eastern Sicily: to the south, Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG and Noto DOC for Nero d’Avola; and north for the exceptional Etna DOC wines of Carricante and Nerello Mascalese that have exploded onto the market in the past 20 years. It’s worth allowing a day or two to explore UNESCO World Heritage Catania before setting off on your wine tours.

Like so much of southeastern Sicily, Catania was decimated in 1693 by an earthquake, the destruction having been likened to London after the Great Fire of 1666. Gone were the layers of culture accumulated through centuries of Greek, Byzantine, Arab and Norman domination.

The buildings that rose from the rubble in these cities – including hundreds of churches and countless palazzi – were fortuitously built in the Baroque style, the fashion of the day. In Catania, the decorative drama is accentuated by the contrast of local black volcanic stone and white plaster and marble. The historic centre has benefited from investment in recent years and is handsomely laid out around an easy grid.

Where to stay

Treat yourself to a colourful stay in Hotel Asmundo di Gisira, a handsome palazzo with themed rooms, art collections and buyable antiques. It’s an eclectic venue with a rooftop terrace offering stunning views of the city and Etna. Hotel Bastiò Suites contrasts modern decor with an ancient building in the heart of the city.

Where to eat

Catanian traditional food is saporito (‘full of flavour’), based on seasonal vegetables grown on Etna’s mineral-rich soils, accented with salt-cured capers from Salina, local citrus and Bronte pistachios. Breakfast in summer is a fruit-driven frozen granita eaten with a pillowy brioche. Lunch in town at Antica Marina, one of the restaurants built within the walls of the central fish market. It features seafood raw and cooked, pasta with squid ink or the day’s catch and a decent local wine list. A more staid dinner can be had at La Siciliana, where traditional dishes shine in a wood-panelled interior. My favourite is pasta alla Norma, named for native son Vincenzo Bellini’s courageous opera heroine. It features tomato sauce, fried aubergines and ricotta salata cheese.

Where to drink

The most complete collection of Sicilian wines and speciality foods can be found at Nelson. Two locations in the same street offer an inspiring shop and wine bar. The shop is a dream: hundreds of Sicilian wines from every corner of its islands, along with oils pressed from native olives including Tonda Iblea and Nocellara del Belice, lemon honey, pistachio creams, cheeses, legumes and much more. Its website is great and the best thing is that it will ship, so you can have a weight-free spree. Under the archway is Nelson’s newly opened wine bar where almost all these wines are offered by the glass accompanied by local cheeses and other snacks in a relaxed interior. If you’re after informal food, wine and cocktails, try Uzeta Bistro Siciliano and enjoy the city’s best arancini or a plate of pasta on a lively outside terrace.

Places to visit

My favourite place to stay is about 25 minutes’ drive north from Catania, at Maugeri winery, where architect Carla Maugeri’s family makes wine on Etna’s eastern slopes. Zash is its spectacular boutique hotel, set in citrus groves. She has designed the villa’s 10 stylish rooms and spa and created an unforgettable one-star Michelin restaurant in what was the estate’s palmento: the vast stone vinification barn that once produced the family’s wine. It’s complete with vaulted ceilings and the original press, crafted from a centuries-old chestnut trunk – a perfect mix of old and new with elegant food and wines.

Insider tip

Don’t miss the fish market, La Pescheria, that has held a central position in the port for millennia, located across the main piazza from Sant’Agata cathedral. It has shrunk in the past 20 years but still offers a compellingly theatrical spectacle where tuna, swordfish, squid and sea urchins star. It can be viewed from a raised gallery for those who don’t want to get their feet wet.

Related articles

• Sicily report 2023: Latest releases tasted from this extraordinary island
• Beating the heat: How Italy’s winemakers are responding to climate change
• Palermo for wine lovers

The Consorzio Tutela Vini Etna DOC announced its official move toward obtaining Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) status after a unanimous decision by Consorzio members on 10 November 2023. 

‘I would say this is a historic decision for the entire Etnean territory,’ said Francesco Cambria, president of the Consorzio. 

‘We are a healthy denomination, very careful to defend the specificity of our viticulture, characterised by a marvellous heritage of indigenous vines, bred within a unique territory such as that represented by Europe’s highest active volcano, Etna.’

Etna DOC, founded in 1968, is the oldest established DOC in Sicily, and also one of the oldest DOCs in Italy. Its terroir is recognised for its unique ecosystem, as well as for terroir-driven wines made from the indigenous Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio and Carricante grape varieties.

Over the last 20 years, vineyard hectares, the number of growers, and volumes produced have all been steadily increasing, reflecting the growing interest in wines from Etna.

According to the Consorzio, in 2022 there were 1,290.82 hectares under vine with 442 growers producing 43,651.09 hectolitres – equivalent to 5,820,145 bottles.

Etna DOCG: Changes afoot

The production area wraps around the volcano from north to southwest in a semicircle.

While the borders of the Etna appellation will not change, the future DOCG foresees some changes to the current production specifications.

In the spumante category, for example, the inclusion of the Carricante variety will be added to the already existing Nerello Mascalese. Producers will also be able to make a Pas Dosé style.

Other projected changes for the DOCG include: limiting the Etna Rosso yield from a specific contrade (equivalent to UGA); increasing the number of contrade from the current 133; and introducing the ability to indicate the name of one of 20 municipalities on the label if the grapes come entirely from that territory.

‘The changes that will be made to the new regulations will allow us to further increase the quality level of our wines and provide consumers with elements that make our production even more distinctive,’ said Cambria.

The process for DOCG recognition involves several steps of applications and reviews, which are expected to take approximately two years.

Assuming completion in reasonable time, it will become Sicily’s second DOCG, after Cerasuaolo di Vittoria. 

Related articles:

Sicily report 2023: Latest releases tasted from this extraordinary island

Etna announces nine new contrade with map update

A guide to Etna’s diverse wine styles

A complex melange of cultures which folds in elements from its past occupants –ancient Greeks, Romans, Normans and Arabs – Sicily today is one of the most dynamic wine scenes in Italy. Its cuisine, language, architecture and wines are unique.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for eight brand-new wines from Sicily to discover

There’s plenty for a wine lover to delve into on a visit to this extraordinary island: its huge vineyard area – the largest in the country, with 119,268ha of registered vines in 2022 (Istat, 2023) – encompasses more than 70 indigenous grape varieties as well as a healthy percentage of international varieties, planted throughout a multitude of microclimates.

The native varieties especially are incredibly well adapted to Europe’s hottest location, parts of which are further south than Tunis. In the face of relentlessly rising temperatures, Sicily’s indigenous vines are flourishing.

2023: Quality not quantity

Around the coasts, Sicily’s climate is typically Mediterranean, but inland its well-ventilated conditions help to reduce susceptibility to disease. As a result, organic farming is becoming the norm: according to Sicila DOC president and Donnafugata CEO Antonio Rallo, the island’s vines represent 30% of Italy’s organic viticulture by surface area. Due to adverse weather conditions in 2023, however, producers have faced a variety of challenges.

‘The 2023 harvest will be one of the most difficult of recent years,’ commented Arianna Occhipinti in Vittoria in August. ‘Beside the summer heat wave, we had heavy rains in May and June, an important time for the flowering of our grapes. The incidence of downy mildew may impact our upcoming production by about 30%-35%; the sulphur and copper treatments (the only treatments we carry out in the vineyard) in higher concentrations, were not enough to contain the problem. The 2023 harvest will be lower in quantity, but higher in quality.’

‘Due to the heat in the past weeks, we lost about 40% of the upcoming production,’ noted Cantine Settesoli’s viticultural technician Filippo Buttafuoco in August. ‘Since the temperatures dropped back, the unburned grapes are starting to regain strength so the overall loss could be lower. We are satisfied with how we managed the downy mildew issue, thanks to the help of weather huts that have the ability to electronically indicate the chances of the disease occurring, thereby avoiding irreparable damage.’

Benjamin Franchetti of the Passopisciaro winery in Castiglione di Sicilia, on Mount Etna’s north slope, commented to Decanter in July: ‘We have had severe issues of peronospora [downy mildew], unseen in the past 20 or more years. We expect production to be almost halved for 2023. After months of rain we are now experiencing extremely high temperatures.’

Over 300 wines tasted for this report: see the full table of scores

Indigenous interest

As demand for Marsala’s historic fortified wines has reached crisis point, producers have had to innovate to make use of the vast vineyard area in the west planted to Catarratto (Sicily’s most abundant variety by far, approaching 29,000ha in total in 2021), Grillo (a 19th-century crossing of Zibibbo and Catarratto) and Inzolia (Ansonica).

Grillo is the flagship variety of Marco De Bartoli, which has been instrumental in restoring the fortunes of the ailing grape following the introduction in the 1980s of Vecchio Samperi (£63.50 Les Caves de Pyrene, Sip), which recalls the traditional ‘pre-British’ unfortified Marsala. The winery also bottles a delicious metodo classico sparkling and, since 2013, a fresh, modern style of still Grillo, Vignaverde.

The Grillo revival has gained traction thanks in part to its stylistic versatility, and plantings have quadrupled in the past 20 years (from 2,141ha in 2000 to 8,579ha in 2021, says Sicilia DOC/SIAN). Tasca d’Almerita’s lemony Mozia Grillo (2022, £33.50 NY Wines) – from the small island of San Pantaleo in the Marsala lagoon – was joined in 2012 by the intensely fresh, high-altitude Cavallo delle Fate (2022, £19.75 Hic, Vinvm) from the producer’s Tenuta Regaleali estate in central-west Sicily.

Elsewhere, Florio this year launched a small-production dry Grillo capturing all the glorious salinity and depth found in Marsala’s fortified wines. New-wave producer Caruso e Minini embraces dry Grillo as well as a late harvest version, Tagós (£17.50/50cl Veeno), while Donnafugata – 30km north of Menfi – added a second Grillo, the stony, tropical Passiperduti to its range last year (2022, £22 Tannico).

Harnessing elegance

In the island’s east, producers focus attention on Nero d’Avola and Frappato. Nero d’Avola is Sicily’s most widely planted red variety (15,387ha in 2021, according to Sicilia DOC), but the finest examples tend to derive elegance and directness from areas with limestone soils, such as Menfi, Noto and Vittoria.

Frappato is a late-ripening, low-yielding relative rarity almost completely constrained to the area of Vittoria, where, like Nero d’Avola, it thrives in the warm, sandy, calcareous soils and baking African heat borne by the Sirocco winds – yet paradoxically, Frappato produces super-fresh, light and perfumed reds. Occhipinti and COS (2022, £25.35-£27.50 Highbury Vintners, Joseph Barnes, Noble Green, Seven Cellars) take the grape to another level, demonstrating incredible purity and expression. COS even makes a funky, long-aged metodo classico version.

This part of the island is home to Cerasuolo di Vittoria – the island’s only DOCG – a balancing act of the rich ness and power of Nero d’Avola with the brighter fragrance and red fruit sapidity of Frappato.

Etna

The fiery belches of the island’s famous volcano give life to some of Italy’s most breathtaking wines. Etna’s now-official contrada system defines 142 crus which, in combination with Nerello Mascalese’s delicate yet powerful Nebbiolo-like qualities, gives Etna a quasi-Piemontese identity.

Carricante is the key white variety for Etna Bianco (minimum 60%), while a host of other varieties are occasionally used in smaller percentages, such as Catarratto, Minnella and Visparola. There’s also a separate Etna Superiore DOC (minimum 80% Carricante) for wines made from grapes grown at up to 900m on the eastern slope around Milo, where it’s cool, wet and humid. These are, however, ideal conditions for late-ripening Carricante, and the wines made here are among the variety’s finest expressions.

Etna producers to know

Girolamo Russo

Giuseppe Russo dedicated the name of his winery – founded in 2005 in the commune of Passopisciaro – to his father, Girolamo, and was one of the first wave of producers to start making wine on the north side of Etna. Girolamo Russo has since become a flagbearer for the volcano’s wines, offering a purity of expression seldom experienced elsewhere; transparent wines which champion the roles of minor varieties. Organic farming, micro-vinifications, and barrique and tonneaux ageing produce poised, Burgundian-style reds from Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappucio, a complex contrada bianco from Carricante, Catarratto and Grecanico, and a deliciously succulent, sapid rosato.

Pietradolce

Founded by Michele Faro in 2005, Pietradolce’s north-side reds are structured and complex; the whites rich and floral. The estate consistently produces some of Etna’s finest wines from some of its most picturesque sites, utilising long macerations in conical cement tanks or stainless steel, and a maximum of 10% new tonneaux for ageing.

Eduardo Torres Acosta

Tenerife born Eduardo Torres Acosta interprets Etna’s landscape through old vines, concrete tanks and liberal use of minor varieties. His small range of wines – including some intriguing skin-contact whites – are precise, expressive and great value for money.

Graci

Alberto Graci takes purity and expression to the next level. His Arcuria Bianco 2011 was the first Etna white wine to be labelled under the official contrada system. Alberto favours stainless steel vinification for his whites, concrete tanks for his Etna rosso, and long macerations in tini (large, upright oak casks) for his contrada reds. ‘When I bought the vineyard here [Sopra il Pozzo, in Contrada Feudo di Mezzo] I bought a vineyard where they have never used chemicals…we can say we are biodynamic but it doesn’t matter, we go with the flow,’ he modestly commented during a visit to see the vines. Graci teamed up with Piedmont stalwart, Gaja in 2016 to create the IDDA label, from vines near Biancavilla on the southwest slope.

Tenuta delle Terre Nere

Italian-American importer and influential Barolo modernista, Marco di Grazia discovered the potential of the northern slopes of Etna while searching for a holiday property, and subsequently founded Tenuta delle Terre Nere in 1999. He boasts an enviable portfolio of 15 top-class wines from 32 plots in nine different contrada, all of which demonstrate impeccable elegance and transparency combined with fine structure – not unlike the finest Barolo.

Passopisciaro

Passopisciaro is the Etna project of the late Andrea Franchetti, now overseen by his son, Benjamin and his capable team. Founded in 2000, Andrea’s no-holds-barred attitude to quality combined with his renown as a producer in Tuscany helped to catapult the volcano’s wines into the international sphere. In addition to the benchmark range of contrada wines (labelled as IGT Terre Siciliane since the vineyards extend just over the DOC boundary), the gorgeous Franchetti – a very non-Aetnean blend of Petit Verdot and Cesanese d’Affile – exemplifies Andrea’s unwavering need to experiment.

Frank Cornelissen

Frank Cornelissen could easily be considered the ‘Joško Gravner of the south’. The Belgian-born winemaker was one of the first to discover the potential of Etna when he arrived in 2001. His natural wines made in Georgian amphorae offer a taste of the volcano with a twist.

Sicily’s ever-changing scene: eight brand-new wines to discover

Over 300 wines tasted for this report: see the full table of scores

Related articles:

Discover Perricone: An indigenous red variety from Sicily, with eight wines to try

Cerasuolo di Vittoria: 50 years of Sicily’s only DOCG wine

Marsala: Diverging paths plus eight bottles worth seeking out

Join Decanter Premium | Sicily wine reviews

Read in-depth expert analysis by wine experts plus see hundreds of wine tasting notes and scores from the latest Sicily reports.

Latest reports

More Sicily Articles

James Button, Decanter's Italy editor, explores the myriad styles of wine produced on the island of Sicily, tasting more than 300 wines for the latest releases report now available on Decanter Premium.

Here we present a quick and easy way to see tasting notes and scores for all the wines tasted.

Wines are displayed alphabetically by producer in score order.