What’s hot on Sicily? Our editor’s 2025 guide

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.

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