Sicily for Wine Lovers - Mount Etna, Wineries & Volcanic Wines
A wine holiday in Sicily: wineries to visit on Mount Etna, contrade and ungrafted vines, restaurants, wine shops, volcano tours and wine festivals.
Why Sicily for wine lovers?
For decades Sicily was a byword for bulk wine and Marsala. Today the island is one of the most exciting wine regions in Europe - and that is mainly down to an active volcano.
On Mount Etna vines grow between 400 and over 1,000 metres, on lava flows that ran at different times and therefore left behind entirely different soils. Out of that patchwork came the contrade: 133 recognised single vineyards that work like Burgundian crus. Etna was thus the first region south of the Alps with a codified vineyard system - and the reason wine critics regularly compare the reds from here with Burgundy and Barolo. They are pale in colour, high in acidity, fine-grained in tannin, and they come from a grape called Nerello Mascalese.
There is another peculiarity: the fine volcanic sand cannot be colonised by phylloxera. So parcels survived here ungrafted - some over 140 years old and thus older than the phylloxera catastrophe. Training is traditionally alberello, a knee-high bush on chestnut stakes, all of it done by hand.
And because you can drive from a vineyard at 700 metres to the crater rim at 2,500 within the same hour, this is the only wine trip in Europe on which you taste in the morning and stand on a volcano in the afternoon. The technical background on the whole island is in our Sicily profile.
Best time to travel for wine experiences
| Period | What to expect |
|---|---|
| April | "Le Contrade dell'Etna" - the volcano's big producers' gathering, where the growers show their latest vintages side by side |
| May - June | Ideal: mild weather, walking trails free of snow, estates with time to spare |
| July - August | Over 35 degrees on the coast and more inland - but pleasant on Etna at 700 to 1,000 metres. The "Calici di Stelle" evening events from late July to mid-August |
| September | ViniMilo, the white wine festival on the eastern slope, at the start of the month; the white varieties are picked |
| October | Our recommendation: the Nerello Mascalese harvest, autumn colours, mild weather |
| November - March | Snow at altitude, estates often on restricted hours |
Wineries you can visit
The most important rule for Etna: there are no walk-ins. The producers are small and family-run. Send an email at least a day or two ahead, and considerably earlier during the harvest. Almost all the estates below lie on the northern slope between Linguaglossa, Solicchiata, Passopisciaro, Castiglione di Sicilia and Randazzo - within a radius of around 15 kilometres.
Tenuta delle Terre Nere (Randazzo)
The compulsory stop on the northern slope. Marc de Grazia founded the estate in 2002 and was one of the first to bottle Etna's contrade separately - Calderara Sottana, Feudo di Mezzo, Guardiola, San Lorenzo, Santo Spirito. In Calderara Sottana stand two ungrafted parcels of over 140 years, from which a wine of their own is made: the only place in this guide where you see vines that never experienced phylloxera. Two whites and two reds are tasted in two vintages each, sometimes with a short walk in the vineyard. Monday to Friday, by reservation only.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Pietradolce (Solicchiata)
For anyone who wants to combine wine and art: Pietradolce has contemporary installations among the vines, all inspired by the volcano, plus clean modern architecture and a tasting room looking out over the vineyards. The tour begins in a pre-phylloxera vineyard and leads through the cellar and barrel cellar to the wine library with its historic reserves. Indigenous varieties only, mostly alberello-trained, in sites between 650 and 950 metres.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Graci (Passopisciaro)
Alberto Aiello Graci works to certified organic standards in sites between 600 and 1,000 metres - among them Arcurìa, Feudo di Mezzo and Barbabecchi, one of the highest red wine sites on the mountain. The cellar sits in a building almost 200 years old, and the tasting room is deliberately kept small. What is offered is a walk through cellar and vineyard with six cru wines in two vintages, alongside the estate's own olive oil and artisan bread. If you really want to compare the contrade, this is the place.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Cottanera (Castiglione di Sicilia)
The most visitor-friendly estate on the northern slope: open daily, with tours spread across the whole day, though booking is required. 65 hectares of vines at around 700 metres on lava rock. Besides the tasting there are formats as an aperitivo, as a wine-and-cheese tasting or as a light lunch with the estate's own olives, dried tomatoes and olive oil on wood-fired bread. The most practical choice when the itinerary leaves little room.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Benanti (Viagrande)
The archetype: Giuseppe Benanti helped set off Etna's renaissance in the 1990s, long before the international press discovered the mountain. The estate lies on the south-eastern slope, only about 25 minutes from Catania - the easiest stop for anyone staying in the city. The sommelier-led tour takes in vineyard and historic barrel cellar and ends with five contrada wines compared side by side, so different slopes directly against one another. Local cheeses, salami and bruschetta go with it, or a light lunch.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Barone di Villagrande (Milo)
The oldest estate on Etna, founded in 1727 and in family hands ever since; the cellars in use date from 1850. Milo is the only commune allowed to produce Etna Bianco Superiore - so here it is about Carricante, the white counterpart to Nerello. Certified organic since 1989, working by gravity, in part with fermentation vessels made of lava stone. There are guided tastings with Etna cooking and a wine resort of its own, if you no longer want to drive after the evening.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Firriato Tenuta Cavanera Etnea (Castiglione di Sicilia)
Our recommendation if you want to stay on the mountain: a restored Etna building complex with a historic palmento - the traditional lava-stone press house in which gravity did all the work. Firriato built a small modern winery into it and runs a resort alongside with a good twenty rooms, a heated pool with a view of Etna and a wine bar. Which solves the driver problem elegantly by itself.
Info: Website · Google Maps
Planeta (Sciaranuova) and Donnafugata (Randazzo)
Two big Sicilian names with an Etna base - and both particularly well set up for visitors. Planeta built its cellar into a lava flow from 1566 and offers tours with five wines, three olive oils and local specialities; in summer there is theatre in a natural amphitheatre among the vines. Donnafugata runs tours in Randazzo year-round through vineyards and barrel cellars with a view of Etna, and lets you taste either the Etna wines alone or a cross-section of all its Sicilian estates. Both are good ports of call if you want to see several regions of the island on a touring trip.
Info: Planeta · Donnafugata
In the south of the island, Gulfi near Chiaramonte Gulfi is worth the trip: the estate established single-variety Nero d'Avola as a category and bottles four Pachino single vineyards separately - Maccarj, Bufaleffj, Baronj and NeroSanlorè. Visits by arrangement, with four crus of the same variety tasted in comparison.
Suggested routes
Route 1 - the northern slope in a day: Terre Nere in Randazzo in the morning, lunch at Cave Ox in Solicchiata (pizza and natural wine), Graci or Pietradolce in the afternoon. Everything is less than 20 minutes apart. About an hour each way from Taormina.
Route 2 - wine and volcano: an estate on the northern slope in the morning, then in the afternoon up the Via Mareneve from Linguaglossa to Piano Provenzana at 1,800 metres - through the highest pine forest in Sicily, around 25 minutes of mountain road. From there, four-wheel-drive tours to the extinct craters and to the observatory at around 3,000 metres. The northern side is considerably more practical for wine travellers than the more touristy southern side near Nicolosi.
Route 3 - without a car: the Ferrovia Circumetnea, a narrow-gauge railway dating from 1895, circles the volcano over around 110 kilometres and runs through the vineyards on the way - from Catania via Randazzo to Riposto, a good three and a half hours. Services are sparse, only a few trains run on Sundays, and there are engineering works with replacement buses on some stretches: check the current timetable beforehand.
Important - driving and wine: the limit is 0.5, and 0.0 for anyone with less than three years' driving experience, anyone under 21 and professional drivers. With three estates and five wines each, driving yourself is effectively out of the question - book a driver, stay on the mountain or nominate someone to stay sober. On the ZTL: Catania's historic centre is closed around the clock, every day, monitored by number plate cameras, with no permitted window. In Taormina, hotel guests may drive in if the accommodation registers the number plate within 48 hours - pass it on at check-in.
Restaurants for wine lovers
Fine dining
Shalai (Linguaglossa) - for this guide the best address of all: a Michelin star in the middle of the winegrowing area, in a 19th-century palazzo, with a wine list full of top Etna labels, magnums and verticals. And because the house is a gourmet hotel with a good dozen rooms and a spa, you can drink without a thought for driving. Info: Guide Michelin · Google Maps
Duomo (Ragusa Ibla) - two Michelin stars under Ciccio Sultano, in the Palazzo La Rocca in the middle of baroque Ragusa Ibla. The wine list runs to over 600 entries with a clear Sicilian focus, looked after by a sommelier specialising in Sicilian wine. Info: Guide Michelin · Google Maps
Sapio (Catania) - one star, and the cleverest wine list on the island: it is arranged by the three historic parts of the island, Val di Noto, Val di Mazara and Val Demone, the last of which contains Etna - so you read the list like a map. Add verticals, historic labels and up-and-coming producers; on request, guests dine in the wine cellar. Info: Guide Michelin · Google Maps
Otto Geleng (Taormina) - one star in the Grand Hotel Timeo, just eight tables on a bougainvillea terrace with a view of Taormina, the bay of Naxos and Etna. If you take one picture home from this trip, it will be from here. In the San Domenico Palace, Principe Cerami also holds a star, with over a thousand labels on the list. Info: Guide Michelin · Google Maps
Relaxed
Cave Ox (Solicchiata) - the cult address on Etna and the tip we give most often for the lunch break: Sandro Di Bella keeps a wine list that is legendary on the mountain, with a high proportion of natural wine - plus long-fermented wood-fired pizza made from Sicilian grains, charcuterie and cheese boards and home-made pasta. You can eat here, or simply drink a glass. Closed Tuesdays. Info: Website · Google Maps
Locanda Don Serafino (Ragusa) - one Michelin star, with the restaurant literally carved into the limestone rock. The reason to come, though, is the cellar: several thousand labels and well over ten thousand bottles. A cellar tour with a tasting led by the sommelier can be arranged in advance. Info: Guide Michelin · Google Maps
Wine shops and wine bars
- Enoteca Pippo Calà (Randazzo) - at the entrance to the old town since 1987 and the growers' own local: if you want to know what is genuinely good on the mountain right now, listen here. Almost a thousand labels, family-run, open all year. Google Maps
- Nelson Sicily (Catania) - two premises on the baroque Via Crociferi: a shop with hundreds of Sicilian wines, olive oils and delicatessen - and, under the archway, a wine bar where almost all of it is poured by the glass. Google Maps
- Enoteca Allegra (Catania) - a young sommelier who has returned to his home city, with a very personal selection. Google Maps
- Il Buongustaio dell'Etna (Randazzo) - the address for buying: Etna wines, tastings and typical Sicilian produce in the town centre. Website · Google Maps
Wine experiences and festivals
- Le Contrade dell'Etna (April, Randazzo): the volcano's wine festival, founded in 2008 by Andrea Franchetti as an "en primeur" ritual on the Bordeaux model. More than two hundred estates now show their latest vintages in one place - for wine travellers, the most efficient day of the year.
- ViniMilo (September, Milo): a two-week wine festival in the only commune with Etna Bianco Superiore, with over a hundred labels in an open-air wine bar, masterclasses on Carricante and Nerello, street food and music.
- Calici di Stelle (late July to mid-August): evening events at around thirty Sicilian estates, peaking on the night of shooting stars on 10 August. The most agreeable way to experience wine in high summer.
- Climbing Etna: from the wine side via Piano Provenzana (northern slope, 1,800 m) with four-wheel-drive tours to the craters; the more classic route is the southern side, with the cable car from the Rifugio Sapienza to around 2,500 metres and a bus transfer up to 3,000. Set off early in the morning, when the visibility is clearest.
- Marsala in the west: the Cantine Florio in Marsala are the most spectacular cellars on the island - three barrel halls 165 metres long in which millions of litres of Marsala mature. The tour and tasting take a good hour and a half. Easily combined with the salt pans between Trapani and Marsala and the Phoenician island of Mozia.
Practical tips
The grape varieties you should know: Nerello Mascalese is Etna's main variety - late-ripening, thin-skinned, pale in colour, with high acidity and fine tannin; the comparison with Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo suggests itself. In Etna Rosso it is joined by Nerello Cappuccio, which contributes colour and roundness. The white counterpart is Carricante: very high acidity, citrus, flint, with astonishing ageing potential. In the rest of the island Nero d'Avola dominates, with cherry and sweet spice, alongside the perfumed Frappato of Cerasuolo di Vittoria - Sicily's only DOCG - the crisp whites Grillo and Catarratto, and on Pantelleria the Zibibbo from which passito is made.
Taking wine home: within the EU, wine for personal use travels freely as long as you transport it yourself. On a plane, bottles belong in checked baggage - twelve bottles weigh around 18 kilos, and the baggage allowance is soon used up. Most estates also ship abroad. Careful if you drive home via Switzerland: only five litres are duty free there.
What to buy: an Etna Rosso from a named contrada, because it shows what volcanic soil and altitude make of a grape - and because it still trades below its worth. Alongside it an Etna Bianco Superiore from Milo, which is hard to find anywhere and lasts ten years and more. And if you have been in the west: a dry Marsala Vergine, which almost nobody outside Sicily knows.
And while you're there: Sicilian wine lists carry contrada names that even Italians cannot place, plus a dozen indigenous varieties. The Grape Guru app scanner places both label and list - handy when Cave Ox has twenty Etna wines listed one under the other.
Frequently asked questions
What are the contrade on Etna?
Historically grown single vineyards on the volcano's slopes, legally recognised as additional geographical units - currently 133 of them. Each sits on its own lava flow of a different age and structure, and therefore has its own soil and its own microclimate. Etna was the first Italian region south of the Alps with a codified vineyard system of this kind, which is why the comparison with Burgundian crus is an obvious one.
Can you visit Etna wineries on the spur of the moment?
Practically never. The producers are family-run and often take only two or three groups at a time. Book by email at least 24 to 48 hours ahead, and one to two weeks during the October harvest. If you want to taste spontaneously, go to an enoteca - Pippo Calà in Randazzo, for instance, where the growers themselves drink.
What does a wine tasting cost on Etna?
Reckon on around 30 to 60 euros per person for a tour and tasting; formats with lunch cost more. Many Etna estates publish no prices and give them on request - so ask when you book.
When is the harvest on Etna?
Later than almost anywhere in Italy. The white varieties come in from late August, while the late-ripening Nerello Mascalese is usually picked only in October - and in the highest sites into early November. That comes down to altitude: the vineyards reach beyond 1,000 metres, where it is considerably cooler than by the sea.
What do I need to know as a driver in Sicily?
The limit is 0.5, and 0.0 for anyone with less than three years' driving experience, anyone under 21 and professional drivers. Then there are the roads: the approaches to the contrade are narrow, winding and in places unsurfaced, and sat nav addresses are unreliable - use the estate's own directions. Catania has a ZTL restricted zone in force around the clock, and in Taormina you have your number plate registered by your accommodation.
Your sommelier for your vacation
Unfamiliar wine list, unknown labels? Simply scan the list or bottle at a restaurant or wine shop – the Grape Guru app instantly tells you which wine is worth it. Free for iOS and Android.
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