Sicily Report 2024: Etna’s golden opportunity

‘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

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