Sicily Report 2024: Etna's golden opportunity

‘The future of wine at world level is Italy,’ declared Luigi Moio, president of the OIV (International Wine Organisation), professor of oenology at the University of Naples, and owner of the Quintodecimo winery in Campania, during a conference on Etna in September.

Moio emphasised the importance of late ripening grape varieties in the face of climate change: ‘If we talk about Nerello, Carricante, Grillo…late [ripening] varieties can be different and if you deal with your vineyard well, there are some advantages.’

It’s easy to get carried along with the growing enthusiasm for Sicily’s wines. Grillo has transitioned from the mass-production Marsala grape to one that offers an intriguing array of dry styles, from aromatic, thiol-rich passion-fruited expressions, to bright, saline and lemony bottles.

It’s a great crossover grape for lovers of Sauvignon Blanc or Chablis, and ‘maybe one of the most interesting Sicilian grapes,’ according to Alessio Planeta of Planeta winery.

Grillo’s potential is underlined by the ‘Officina del Vento’ project of Italy’s three Masters of Wine – Gabriele Gorelli MW, Andrea Lonardi MW and Pietro Russo MW – who are releasing their first wine from a single hectare of formerly abandoned Grillo vines in the Stagnone nature reserve in Marsala.

And Carricante – Etna’s number-one white grape – is increasingly made in a reduced, flinty, Puligny-esque style, which really plays to the grape’s strengths. While Grillo is expressive from day one, Carricante (especially those examples from Etna) is a cellar beauty which only shows its true character after several years.

This duo – Grillo in the west and Carricante in the east – represents perfectly, in my mind, the bright, all-embracing future of Sicily.