Sicily, wine from the slopes of Mount Etna and the Baroque south below it

Yes. Mount Etna is one of Italy’s most exciting wine regions, with old ungrafted vines on an active volcano, and the warm Baroque southeast adds Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Sicily’s only DOCG. Few places pair two such different wine climates, along with a Greek, Arab and Norman food culture, in one week.

Etna wine is grown on the slopes of Mount Etna, an active volcano, at 600 to 1,000m on black volcanic soil. The main red is Nerello Mascalese, pale and perfumed; the main white is Carricante, sharp and long-lived. Many vines are ungrafted and very old, and the wines are often bottled by contrada, the single lava-flow districts of the mountain.

It is often compared to Pinot Noir for its pale colour, perfume and high acidity, with a firmer grip closer to Nebbiolo, the grape of Barolo. Grown on Etna’s volcanic soil it tastes mineral and savoury rather than sweet, and it ages well.

Both are Sicilian red grapes, but they make very different wine. Nerello Mascalese grows high on Etna and is pale, perfumed and mineral. Nero d’Avola is the island’s most-planted red, grown in the warmer lowlands, and is deep, full and fruit-forward with soft tannins.

Cerasuolo di Vittoria is Sicily’s only DOCG, its top wine classification, made in the Baroque southeast around Vittoria. It blends Nero d’Avola with lighter Frappato into a cherry-bright, warm, plush red. The name comes from cerasa, the local word for cherry.

The contrade are Etna’s single-vineyard districts, each based on a different lava flow, and there are around 142 of them. Etna was the first Italian region south of the Alps to map its wine this way, so bottles are often labelled by contrada, much as Burgundy is labelled by named vineyard.

Etna’s fine volcanic sand defeats phylloxera, the root louse that killed most of Europe’s old vineyards in the 19th century. Because the pest cannot take hold, many Etna vines grow on their own roots and are 80 to over 100 years old, trained as low alberello bushes and worked by hand.

Late May to June and September to October are the sweet spots, with mild weather, green vines and growers in the cellar. Harvest is the longest in Italy, running on the high north slopes of Etna into late October. Summer is hot and best for the coast; winter is quiet, with snow often on Etna’s summit.

Plan on 6 to 8 days to pair Mount Etna with the Baroque southeast. Etna rewards a slower pace, usually 2 wineries a day at most, and the drive south to the Vittoria and Modica area opens a second wine world and food culture worth several days of its own.

Tuscany is the familiar face of Italian wine, Sangiovese among Renaissance hills, ideal for a first Italian wine country trip. Sicily is more elemental, an active volcano, old ungrafted vines and two climates in one week, better suited to travellers who have done the classics. Some travellers do both with us.

Most trips start at Catania, the airport at the foot of Etna. Our itineraries base first on Etna’s eastern flank, near Taormina and the volcano, then move to a courtyard estate in the Baroque southeast near Vittoria.

On Etna the reds are Nerello Mascalese, often with a little Nerello Cappuccio, and the key white is Carricante, with Catarratto also widely planted. In the Baroque southeast the reds are Nero d’Avola, the island’s most-planted grape, and lighter Frappato, the two blended into Cerasuolo di Vittoria.

Arancini, caponata, and pasta alla Norma, born here with fried aubergine and salted ricotta. Pasta con le sarde, sardines with saffron and fennel, is an Arab inheritance. Add Catania’s dawn fish market, Modica’s cold-worked chocolate, cannoli and almond granita.

Most Etna vineyards sit from 600 to 1,000m on the volcano’s slopes, among the highest in Europe. At that altitude hot days and cold nights keep the wines tense and aromatic, and the harvest runs late, into late October on the high north slopes.

A palmento is a traditional lava-stone press house, once used to crush and ferment grapes by gravity on the slopes of Etna. Many have been restored, and we host a wine-paired Sicilian lunch beside one at a north-slope grower’s estate.

Modica chocolate is worked cold, so the sugar never fully melts and the bars stay grainy, a method with Aztec and Spanish roots. We visit a Modica maker in the Baroque southeast, tasting the chocolate at the end of a day in the old town.

A baglio is a fortified courtyard estate, a walled Sicilian farm built around an inner yard. Near Vittoria in the southeast we base you at a boutique baglio, our second home on the trip after the family wine estate on Etna.

No. English is widely spoken in the towns and across the wine trade, and on our trips your hosts and guides work in English throughout, from Etna’s growers to the cooks and makers of the Baroque southeast.