Wines from Sicily

Fresh, bright ruby colour. The Syrah impresses with its intense and ripe bouquet with hints of figs, redcurrants, preserved cherries, blueberries, spices and vanilla. Velvety, elegant tannins accompany the opulent and lively structure through to the lingering final. SUPERIORE.DE

Between 60,000 and 15,000 years BC, Mount Etna eroded its old centre – the Ellittico eruptive complex collapsed in on itself. What remains are some of the oldest surface soils on the volcano that can still be cultivated. Subsequent lava flows buried the older layers beneath them; only small, rare plots of the Ellittico survived on the surface. On the northern side of Mount Etna, there are three contrade with pure Ellittico terroir: Bocca d’Orzo, Calderara and San Lorenzo. Three out of hundreds. Calderara – the name evokes warmth. The stones here, fist-sized and light, a mixture of black pumice and basalt, absorb the sun’s heat during the day and slowly release it back into the soil during the cold nights. Without this invisible thermal balance, the ripening process at an altitude of 600 to 650 metres would be quite different. Don pep, who tended these vineyards for seventy years, found the most precise word to describe the wines from this site: ‘cremosi’. It’s true – and it couldn’t be put any better.

The grapes for this fine white wine from the north side of Mount Etna come from the 3-hectare Contrada Muganazzi in the municipality of Passopisciaro. The skeleton-rich and pH-neutral soils are rich in iron and nitrogen and offer ideal conditions for fresh, acidic and mineral white wines. The wine is aged in equal parts in wood and stainless steel for 12 months on the fine lees. Muganazzi is neither a lean wine, nor is it too full-bodied. It is somewhere in between, with thick layers of peach, apricot and lots of fresh citrus fruit. The mineral notes such as gravel, flint and volcanic ash are very evident. An elegant, powerful Carricante with great drinking flow that clearly shows the signature of the sensitive Alberto Graci. SUPERIORE.DE

The 2021 vintage of Donnafugata's top wine continues the dialogue between "art and wine" at Donnafugata in the best possible way: The Special Edition Mille e una Notte 2021 is dedicated to the great timeless story told in the brand new Netflix series "The Leopard". It is based on the literary masterpiece by Tomasi di Lampedusa, in which the protagonist's possessions are called "Donnafugata". No better wine could therefore be chosen to honour this epic tale set in the heart of western Sicily, precisely where the Donnafugata vineyards are located and where Mille e una Notte was born. The bottle has been enhanced with a precious label featuring baroque decorations that reflect the style and elegance shown in the series.

Contrada Arrigo is located on the northern slope of Mount Etna at 610 metres above sea level, facing north-east with a view of the sea. Wine has been grown on this ancient soil since time immemorial. It is rich in organic substances and consists mainly of volcanic sand and lava stones from a volcanic eruption in 1180. Significant temperature fluctuations during the day and night lead to a slow ripening process that preserves freshness and minerality.

The youngest Nerello vines here are rooted in old volcanic soil: Pietradolce Rosso comes from plots in Solicchiata on the northern slopes of Mount Etna, around 600 metres above sea level. The terroir, a mixture of ash, basalt and sand, gives the wine a precise structure and striking minerality. Clear ruby red in colour with light reflections. Fragrant on the nose and typical of young Nerello Mascalese: Sour cherry, redcurrant, some blood orange and a hint of violet. Lean, fresh and taut on the palate with lively acidity and grippy tannins that blend harmoniously with the juicy fruit. The finish is straightforward, spicy and characterised by a fine mineral salinity. An authentic Etna Rosso with a clear signature – accessible and direct, but anything but arbitrary. SUPERIORE.DE

Contrada Feudo is located on the northern slope of Mount Etna at an altitude of around 650 metres, where the vines are rooted in volcanically mixed, sandy and stony soils. Some of the plots with Nerello Mascalese are over 70 years old and deliver concentrated but cool fruit year after year. 2021 was a classic vintage on Etna with a pronounced balance: not too hot, not too humid – ideal conditions for a precise style. The wine is aged for around 16 months in used tonneaux, which emphasises the characteristics of the vineyard and refines the tannin structure.

The Nero d'Avola grapes for the very rare Sultana come from a steeply sloping, bush-shaped vineyard facing north-west. The soil here is white with a limestone matrix, rich in minerals and drainage capacity. The pronounced slope and very poor soil reinforce the pedoclimatic characteristics in which the Nero d'Avola plants find a natural habitat. It is an extreme terroir, a combination of environmental and human factors, that distinguishes the Sultana vineyard from other vineyards. The light reflected by the white soils enhances the characteristics and ultimately the quality of the grapes from the vineyard. SUPERIORE.DE

Neromàccarj is the broodingwine from Gulfi's high-quality Nero d'Avola range. The vines are rooted in the single vineyard Màccari, a barren hilly landscape near Pachino, where calcareous clay, volcanic rock and sea breezes create a powerful, yet always balanced microclimate. The vines are ungrafted, some are over 50 years old and yields are low. The harvest by hand and the wine is matured in the traditional way: a long maceration period followed by two years of ageing in used barriques and large wooden barrels. All this with organic care – and a firm determination to bring the best of the variety into the glass.

Solicchiata, northern slope of Mount Etna, 800 metres. The Faro family has dug deep into the volcano here since 2005 – literally, because the sandy soils of weathered lava rock allow roots to travel far. 100% Nerello Mascalese, Alberello, vines between 50 and 65 years old. Hand-picked, two weeks of maceration, three months in fine-grained oak barrels. Not a wood wine – a classic red volcanic wine.

Della Bastonaca is the quintessence of the COS philosophy, grown on the historic estate in Bastonaca near Vittoria – where up to 75-year-old Alberello vines of Nero d'Avola and Frappato stand on calcareous red clay, criss-crossed by quartz veins and the constant presence of Mediterranean air. Biodynamics is not a statement here, but a lived practice – for decades, each vintage has been vinified in harmony with nature at the right rhythm.

Bright ruby red colour. Refined raspberry and red cherry on the nose, with notes of quinine and flowers that develop with further aeration. Fresh flavours of red berries and smoked beef, with hints of violets and orange zest. Almost exotic on the palate with plenty of luscious extract sweetness and fine tannins and a fresh, mineral, dry finish. An exceptional red wine with a terrificarc of tension! SUPERIORE.DE

Around 2,000 bottles of this single-vineyard wine are sold each year. Extremely complex bouquet of blackberry, blackcurrant and sour cherry, with perfectly integrated notes of Mediterranean herbs. Broad and elegant on the palate, supported by a delicate acid wire that makes it fresh and lively. A great wine with excellent structure and remarkable persistence and depth of flavour. SUPERIORE.DE

This magnificent Etna Bianco reflects the mineral profile of its origin with clarity and authenticity. It grows in the Contrada Feudo near Randazzo, at an altitude of around 650 metres, where volcanic soils with grey ash and lapilli give it a clear structure of origin. The year 2023 was balanced and cool on Etna – ideal conditions for relaxed ripening with a clear freshness. The grapes were harvested early and come partly from terraces with decades-old vines. The vinification combines a classic stainless steel tank approach with six months of ageing in tonneau – a mix that combines fullness, varietal purity and fine flavour.

The year is 1773: John Woodhouse, an English merchant on his way to Mazara to collect a consignment of soda ash, is forced by a storm into the harbour of Marsala. In a tavern, he samples ‘Perpetuum’ – the local wine, which he describes as having a high alcohol content, similar to Port and Madeira. The idea strikes him immediately: if a little spirit were added to this wine, it would survive the long sea voyage to England. It is that first sip that marks the beginning of a chapter in wine history.

There are stories that the volcano itself has written – with fire, time and the inexorable force of geological eras. Feudo di Mezzo is one such story: once a coherent contrada, it was torn in two by Etna's explosive fury and has borne its name ever since, like a reminder of that night when glowing lava flows divided the land and "di Mezzo" – in the centre – a place between two worlds. Giuseppe Russo has created his most complex and ambitious red wine from this dramatic testimony to the terroir. He selected just 0.76 hectares of the very best plot for this extraordinary wine, where hundred-year-old Nerello Mascalese vines sink their gnarled trunks into the volcanic earth like sculptures. Here, at an altitude of 670 metres in Castiglione di Sicilia, the unique microclimate that prompted the ancient Greeks to plant their first vines here prevails. A terroir so extraordinary that history itself has chosen it as a wine-growing region.

A Sicilian Cabernet Franc that can only be produced by Planeta – inspired by the elegance of great Bordeaux, yet deeply rooted in the terroir of the Menfi Hills. Didacus is a tribute to the family, named after Diego Planeta, the visionary founder of the winery. The grapes come from carefully tended plots on chalky soils, where they develop their aromatic ripeness and structure under the Mediterranean sun and fresh winds from the nearby coast. After fermentation, the wine matured for 21 months in French barriques before being left to rest for two years in the bottle.

Didacus Chardonnay comes from the first vines planted on the shores of Lake Ulmo in 1985. It is dedicated to the founder of the winery, Diego Planeta, and represents the history of the winery as well as elegance, tradition, family and the future. It also embodies Planeta's vision of Sicilian viticulture at the highest level.

In 1985, Chardonnay was a provocation in Sicily. The lemon trees around Menfi were worth so little that it was hardly worth harvesting them. Diego Planeta had them uprooted – and planted Chardonnay on four hectares on the shores of Lago Arancio. What many thought was escapism was method: Diego knew that the island was capable of more than its reputation at the time suggested. Four years later, Carlo Corino from Piedmont, one of Italy's best Chardonnay specialists, arrived and helped to sharpen the wine's identity. The first vines from those years are still standing. Today, they are the starting point for Didacus – a tribute by the next generation to the patriarch whose Latin name it bears. Hand-picked from the best grapes from the historic vineyard, they are fermented and matured in barriques from the forests of Nevers, Vosges and Allier. Ten months – not a day more than necessary.

At an altitude of 750 metres, where the boundaries of the Etna DOC end in the cold north-west of the volcano, lies a hidden geological secret that only three of the hundreds of contrade on Etna can lay claim to. In its sandy soils, San Lorenzo bears the pure legacy of the Ellittico volcano – the ancient eruption centre whose explosive activity 60,000 years ago created a terroir purity that is now one of Sicily's rarest treasures. Giuseppe Russo is aware of this peculiarity when he cultivates the precious white vines that have been sinking their roots into these elliptical volcanic sands for eighty years among the centuries-old Nerello vines of his red Contrada wines. Here, where Etna sends its coldest winds over the vineyards and time is measured in geological epochs, white wines are produced with a minerality that only this unique combination of ancient lava and extreme altitude can produce.

Now in its 30th vintage, it has long been an icon of modern Sicilian winemaking: Planeta’s Chardonnay combines the tradition of French grape varieties with the sun-drenched terroir of the south, producing one of Italy’s most distinctive white wines year after year. The grapes come from two different altitudes: Ulmo at 250 metres and Maroccoli at 415 metres above sea level. In the glass, it is a radiant golden yellow with slightly greenish highlights. The aroma is intense and refined: yellow tropical fruits, toasted almonds, citrus blossom, vanilla, wet stone and a hint of salty butter. On the palate, it is dense and full-bodied, with ripe fruit, a perfect balance between freshness and creaminess, subtle spice and a long, elegant finish. A cult wine that combines Mediterranean richness with Burgundian nobility. Ideal with lobster, fried fish, poultry in butter sauce, or on its own as a great white wine with real character. SUPERIORE.DE

Deep, bright ruby red in colour. This 100% Nero d'Avola is a captivating wine with its full-bodied, fruity and spicy aroma of blackcurrants, cherries, undergrowth, liquorice and dark chocolate. The soft but firm, multi-layered and warm flavour of ripe berries, the fine spice and the fine tannins are very appealing. SUPERIORE.DE

Nerobaronj is no ordinary Nero d'Avola, but a deeply rooted homage to origin and style. The name plays with the aristocratic title and grape variety – and refers to the self-confident profile of a wine that sets new standards with its concentration and elegance. The grapes come from the south of Sicily, not far from Noto, from old bush vines on calcareous clay soil. Organic cultivation, hand-picking and strict selection ensure a high degree of precision. The wine is matured for 24 months in barriques and tonneaux, followed by long bottle ageing.

"Bold, headstrong, rebellious" – is how Arianna Occhipinti describes the wine that most resembles her. Frappato, this quintessentially Sicilian grape variety of rural origins, is rooted here in calcareous sandy soils at the foot of the Monti Iblei. Forty-year-old vines near Vittoria, at an altitude of 280 metres, cultivated biodynamically. The winemaking process follows the rhythm of nature: spontaneous fermentation in concrete, thirty days" contact with the skins, then fourteen months" ageing in large Slavonian oak barrels. Bottled unfiltered, the wine retains its lively authenticity.