Sicily

Like their Etna Bianco, Etna pioneer Benanti’s Etna Rosso is a blend of multiple vineyards on the volcano’s northern and southern slopes and is built for pure pleasure enjoyment! As Vinous says, it “wafts up... Read More

This is a fabulous bargain in very high-end Etna red. It's mainly Nerello Mascalese with a smattering of the softer Nerello Cappuccio from sites across the north slopes of the volcano. It’s wonderfully layered and complex,... Read More

Organic/Bio As Wine Advocate said last year, “Giuseppe Russo makes some of the best wines on Etna. Full stop.” And this is Doug’s favorite pretty much every year. From roughly 50 year-old vines at 500 meters,... Read More

Organic/Bio At the very top of San Lorenzo, at 750 meters elevation, almost too high to be “Etna Rosso,” Russo farms a 0.7HA plot of vines planted in the early 1940s. Originally they were trained on traditional albarello... Read More

Organic/Bio Pre-Order Only At the very top of San Lorenzo, at 750 meters elevation, almost too high to be “Etna Rosso,” Russo farms a 0.7HA plot of vines planted in the early 1940s. Originally they were trained on... Read More

Organic/Bio Lower ABV Sicily’s Nero d’Avola grape can get heavy and pruny and very simple, but here the Sala sisters coax terrific freshness and even purity from their 15 year-old vines in western Sicily. The secret... Read More

Organic/Bio Only from Etna do you get this captivating combination of smoky volcanic rock and crunchy-ripe strawberry/sweet cherry fruit with mouthcoating tannins that give shape and elevate the flavors without drying you out... Read More

Organic/Bio Lower ABV From coastal south-eastern Sicily, Dario Serrentino works only with native grapes and in an organic, hands-off, style. This tiny production (100 cases) blend of Nero d’Avola, Grillo, Frappato, Insolia,... Read More

Organic/Bio Someday I'll go to Le Contrade dell'Etna and taste wines from every important contrade on the volcano. Until then, though, my position is clear and absolute: Guardiola is my favorite and, arguably, the best.... Read More

Organic/Bio This is from a tiny, tiny, plot of vines Andrea Franchetti planted in the Passochianche contrada around 3,000 feet done in large oak. Maybe “Puligny Montrachet meets the Santa Cruz Mountains” suggests the... Read More

I never met Andrea Franchetti, who died in December 2021 at the age of 72. But this wine sums up everything I’ve read and heard from his partners at Passopisciaro. “Poetic” and “wildly visionary”... Read More

Lots of folks are going to initially reject a cloudy, frothy, tart wine that at first blush is built to appeal only to Pet-Nat and sour beer fans. But chill this down and sip with salmon tartare or a bite of something finished... Read More

Lower ABV “Ti Cuntu” means “I will tell you a story” in dialect, and the goal of this wine is to tell you the story of a place – Vittoria in Ragusa, Sicily – and grape – Frappato, possibly... Read More

Organic/Bio With San Lorenzo, one of Terre Nere’s three Grande Terroir Ellittico wines, so designated because of their very rare and pure volcanic sand soils from the Ellittico eruptions dating from 15,000 to 60,000 years... Read More

Just as in the rest of Europe, when phylloxera devastated most of the volcano's vineyards when it finally arrived here in the mid-20th Century. But two small plots of Nerello Mascalese on Calderara Sottona's steep slopes... Read More

A relatively new winery (first vintage 2014) from a family with 100+ years on Etna, the Tornetore style runs less extracted and powerful than most, but still very delicious! This is from Contrada Trimarchisa, on the lowest slopes... Read More