Mount Etna is not only the largest active volcano in Europe but it’s also a major wine producing region of Italy. There are over 300 small family-run wineries here making some of the highest quality wines in all of Sicily, including hand-crafted white, red and rosé wines called Etna Bianco, Etna Rosso, and Etna Rosato.
An Etna Bianco is a bright and fresh white wine with lemon, peach and apple notes, great minerality and good acidity. It’s made predominantly from the indigenous Carricante grape. Etna’s major red variety, Nerello Mascalese, is often light in color but has an unusual intensity to its nose. Expect red fruit, like cherry, cranberry, strawberry, and wild herbs in a glass of Etna Rosso. Note, this wine can also be on the darker side if the Nerello Cappuccio grape is in the blend. Lastly, their Rosato is typically a beautiful pale copper color with tangy flavors of lemon, tangerine and other citrus fruits. You can count on it being bone-dry and with good acidity.
The vineyards on Etna are mostly planted on the northern, southern and eastern slopes of the volcano, where the climate is more continental than maritime. They benefit from generally cooler temperatures, with big variations from day to night. Sicily may be in the south of Italy but the vines on Etna are some of the last to bloom and last to be harvested in the country. This means the grapes spend longer on the vine, which is what gives the wines such great complexity.
You’ll also find a lot of diversity from one wine to another. That’s because of the nature of lava flows over the years which have ensured the volcanic soils (primarily rock, ash and minerals), vary significantly, even at a distance of several meters. In fact, the land here is parceled into 130+ recognized sub regions, or contrade, at different elevations and each with their own unique terroir.
Curious to give Etna wines a try? You can pick up a bottle in most fine wine shops and restaurants with quality Italian selections. Retail prices will range from $25-60 for a Bianco, $25-75+ for a Rosso and $25-30 for a Rosato. Note, Sicily makes some less expensive wines too, but a bottle from Etna will always be in the higher price range.
Wine tip: Terroir refers to the combination of soil composition, temperature, elevation and exposure to sun and winds in a vineyard that can affect the resulting wines.
The history of winemaking in Sicily
Sicily used to be known for its sweet cooking wines (think Marsala sauce) and inexpensive bulk red wines. However, in the mid-1990s several winemakers, including Diego Planeta, led a kind of renaissance in Sicilian winemaking. They realized the island had some grape varieties that weren’t growing anywhere else in Italy. They also had the terroir and climate to make truly handcrafted and quality wines. Winemakers started by lowering yields for older vines and then began paying more attention to how the wines were made, including incorporating modern winemaking techniques. Some wineries also planted newer vineyards with international grape varieties better suited to specific land and climate conditions. Today, Sicily is one of the best up-and-coming wine regions in Italy for wine lovers to explore! You can find a number of sustainable and organically farmed wines too, particularly in the Vittoria region.
More on the geography
The reason Sicily is so well suited to winemaking is partly down to its geography. Two thirds of the island’s terrain is hilly and mountainous. Mount Etna itself is over 10,000 feet high and has a circumference of 90 miles. It dominates the landscape in the eastern part of Sicily and its slopes and foothills are dotted with small vineyards. The Mount Etna region sees Sicily’s highest rainfall amounts and the volcano tends to be covered in snow until late spring.
How do you grow grapes on a volcano?
They don’t grow grapes on all parts of the volcano, especially those where lava flows are actively happening (although, some eruptions have destroyed vineyards in the past!). Most vineyards sit between 1,000 and 4,000 feet in elevation and are situated on small terraced plots, many of them walled.
Volcanic soils are a mixture of ash and volcanic rock and are quite mineral rich. They’re often a darker color which allows the soils to both absorb sunlight and radiate it out again at night. The way the lava flows affects how minerals are distributed in the soils. This means you can try two wines from vineyards 50 meters apart and they might taste completely different.
You’ll find mostly bush vines on Mount Etna. A bush vine is where the berries grow up from the ground and aren’t trellised. Bush vines tend to have lower yields and be more wind resistant. They also need to be hand-cultivated. Because of this and the nature of the terraces, wineries in the Etna DOC can’t really use machinery – you’ll even find some wines labeled biodynamic.
The Etna DOC
The Etna DOC was actually the first DOC in Sicily, granted in 1968. DOC stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata and signifies a wine growing region in Italy that’s governed by a local body which sets rules and regulations for growing, as well as wine production. You’ll see the DOC listed on the bottle label for wines from the region that meet these standards.
Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio
The two main red grapes of the Etna DOC are Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio. Mascalese is a late-ripening varietal that produces a lighter colored wine. It’s known for its forward aromatics and flavors of herbs and spices alongside morello, sour and black cherry. Mascalese is sometimes blended with Cappuccio, a secondary varietal used in smaller amounts. The latter adds some softness and color to Etna Rosso wines.
Carricante, Catarratto
Carricante is the primary white grape from the Etna DOC. It’s a high acid varietal that’s often harvested later in the season. You’ll find mostly citrus flavors, including lemon and grapefruit, alongside apple and hints of orange blossom. All Etna Biancos must be at least 60% Carricante and for a Bianco Superior, 80%. The remaining percentage can be made up of Catarratto, which has small berries and is known for its lower sugar content and high acidity.
5 Things you need to know about an Etna Rosso
- It’s a wine with an intense flavor profile and aromatics. Despite being light to medium in body and color, an Etna Rosso is a really complex and intense wine, not unlike a Barolo or a Barbaresco from northern Italy. This is partially a result of the older vines used to make these wines and their higher tannin content.
- It can be a blend of two different grapes. Some of the best expressions of Etna Rosso are 100% Nerello Mascalese. However, some wineries use Mascalese with up to 20% Cappuccio to give the wine more color and body.
- It will be in the medium to high price range for Italian wines. You won’t find any large producers in the Etna region because of the nature of the land and how the slopes are terraced into smaller parcels. On Etna, the grapes are hand cultivated and picked, and with this comes a higher price tag for the wine.
- A Riserva must be aged in oak for at least a year. An Etna Rosso Riserva also spends four years in a bottle before release. Note, they tend to use French oak in this part of Sicily.
- It’s likely a sustainably or organically farmed wine. This is again down to the geography and the fact that a number of young winemakers have moved to this part of Italy and/or taken over production in family-run wineries. They predominantly use indigenous yeasts which ensure the wine is a truer expression of the land.
The Pietradolce winery
A lot of Mount Etna has pre-phylloxera vines, including the Pietradolce winery. Pietradolce makes noteworthy Etna Bianco, Etna Rosso and Etna Rosato wines, and has single vineyards for both their Rosso and Bianco. The terraces at Pietradolce were dug over 135 years ago and are intermixed with olive, pear and cherry trees. A Pietradolce Rosso DOC is an elegant and smooth wine with cherry and currant flavors, and smoky notes. Their Etna Bianco DOC can have stone-fruit and citrus, with hints of sage. All of Pietradolce’s wines are organically farmed, hand cultivated and use natural yeasts for fermentation. And while some of the Etna Rosso is aged in French oak, this winery also uses concrete eggs made from volcanic rock and stones found on Etna’s slopes – Pietradolce means sweet rock in Italian. Concrete eggs can help with aeration and give a wine more complexity and texture.
More of the region’s top producers
- Planeta. Bordered by woods and more recent lava flows, the Etna vineyards of the Planeta winery are organically farmed. You can get wild strawberry and hints of rhubarb and black pepper in their Etna Rosso.
- Tenuta Terre Nere. Tenuta Terre Nere is another top-end producer of Etna wines. Terre nere literally means black earth. They’ve been producing Etna Rosso from the volcanic soils here for over 40 years. A Terre Nere Rosso will have flavors of blueberry, raspberry and even hints of licorice.
- Alta Mora. The Alta Mora winery is run by two brothers who took over the business from their father in 2000. They make high-end wines from the northern slopes of Etna.
- Tornatore. This is one of the oldest wine making families on Etna with production dating back to 1865.
Wine food pairings for Etna wines
Red wines
Etna Rosso is a perfect red wine for a more delicate meat dish, like a veal saltimbocca, or a grilled salmon or tuna steak. The acidity means it makes an excellent pairing with spicy food too and you can also serve this red wine with chicken dishes. Note, if you’re looking for an Italian wine to have with pizza or pasta in a marinara sauce, you’re best off with a Nero D’Avola, another wine from Sicily, or a Chianti Classico from Tuscany.
White wines
Etna Bianco is a crisp and dry white wine from Italy that you can have on its own or pair with raw shellfish and seafood pasta dishes. It’s great with grilled fish too, including sea bass and branzino. It would also make a nice pairing with lighter food, like antipasto platters.
