Sicily’s Grape Renaissance | Wine-Searcher News & Features

With the 2022 harvest, Sicily confirmed itself as the island of wine for all seasons.

The wines presented as a preview last month at Sicilia en Primeur 2023, the annual event organized by Assovini Sicilia designed to showcase the best of the region’s wine production, demonstrated the qualitative growth of all the main appellations.

Producers were able to overcome the agronomic pitfalls of a drought–stricken year in which overall production was 8.9 percent lower than the average of the last 13 years, according to data provided by the consulting firm Uva Sapiens. The lower production is partly linked to the decrease in the number of hectares under vine, which fell to 110,000 – between 2008 and 2018, roughly 40,000ha of vineyard were uprooted.

In 2022, Sicily was confirmed as one of the most productive wine-growing regions in Italy, with an average yield of 6.7 tons of grapes per hectare. However, the southeast zone remains an exception as production has dropped 29.2 percent, compared to the average.

Embracing indigenous grapes

In the glass, Grillo and Nero d’Avola are in great demand in all corners of the island. The same is true for Carricante, Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, the main varieties of Etna DOC. We are also moving towards an increasingly clear profiling of Inzolia, which is losing – in most cases – the “green” and “hard” traits that characterized its profile in previous vintages. It is now becoming a variety that has an excellent chance of carving out a place for itself on the market, as a “Sicilian Sauvignon”, due to its aromatic and herbaceous traits.

Zibibbo is also enjoying a revival. In its land of origin, the island of Pantelleria, there has been an exponential growth in sparkling and still wines, respectively 68 percent and 25 percent compared to 2018. Passito di Pantelleria, a style of sweet white wine the island is famed for, has also grown by 10 percent over the past five years.

The real surprise, however, comes from Perricone, an indigenous grape variety that, from the preview tastings, seems to have grown the most in terms of quality. Its rediscovery by several wineries is giving new luster to this variety originating in western Sicily, it’s even gaining some international interest – excellent examples can be found in the masterly interpretation of the Feudo Montoni winery.

A gruff, rebellious, edgy, wild grape that’s best tamed in the vineyard, it has big bunches and thick skin; it is not afraid of fungous diseases and almost seems to want to challenge hail, with its late-ripening attitude. In the glass, it has all the promise of a “new beginning” for Sicilian viticulture, it’s both capable of being loved for its youthful fruitiness as it is for its fascinating ability to age like great reds. The variety has its staunch fans with Sicilian winegrowers like Fabio Sireci, owner of Feudo Montoni, a keen believer in Perricone’s hidden potential.

Mount Etna slowly wakes

Etna is also evolving, while still keeping its identity intact. According to bottling figures, Etna Rosso, which accounts for just over 50 percent of the total bottled wine, grew by 28.36 percent in 2022, reaching 23.365,31 hectolitres. Equally strong growth for the second most-bottled style, Etna Bianco, with 28.08 percent (14.366,09 hectolitres). Two styles that are increasingly in demand and appreciated by consumers, Etna Bianco Superiore (up 67.19 percent, with 746,48 hectolitres bottled) and Etna Rosato (up 45.53 percent, with 3.880,61 hectolitres bottled), also performed well. Etna Spumante is also growing, up 5.85 percent on 2021 with 792.65 hectolitres bottled (there were 160 thousand bottles in 2020, an increase of 30 percent on 2019).

On the Sicilian volcano, the balance of power between the slopes is changing.

Until recently it was “versante nord”, the northern slope, that was the most visible. However, the new consumption trends – which favor white and sparkling wines over reds – are giving great visibility to the eastern slope, where the small municipality of Milo is located. The vineyards, which extend from 700 meters above sea level, tower all around Piazza Belvedere, the panoramic viewpoint of the village of 1072 inhabitants. From Piazza Belvedere it is possible to admire Taormina and glimpse the Gulf of Catania and the Calabrian coastline. The growth of Etna Bianco Superiore of Milo is becoming more apparent in contrast to the decline of Etna Rosso Riserva (–26.30 percent in 2022 compared to 2021).

Winemakers like Carla Maugeri, together with her sisters Paola and Michela, have breathed new life into Milo’s viticulture. Along with enologist Emiliano Falsini – whose been involved since 2015 – they have been able to elevate Maugeri’s Etna Bianco Superiore, made from pure Carricante, to something special.

Two expressions of Contrada Volpare 2021 were tasted in preview during the Sicilia en Primeur program. Both combine notes of mountain herbs with a briny, marine flavor, combined with hints of citrus fruits such as bergamot and crisp white-fleshed fruit like apple and white plum. Contrada Volpare Frontebosco 2021 matures longer in large wood and is a wine that shows Etna’s great potential in the production of taut, electric white wines, which with the right amount of wood can become even more gastronomic, mouthwatering, and aromatic.

Wines that come from a veritable open–air museum, that Maugeri defines as “conservative restructuring”. She’s referring to the 83 terraces that surround her Milo winery, adding color to the 2.8 kilometers of black lava stone walls that wind through the 7 hectares of the property.

Etna invites investment and the chance to capitalize on the international growth of white and sparkling wines from indigenous grapes. This is also demonstrated by the latest project of Mario Piccini, patron of the “Tuscan wine family” and owner of Tenuta Torre Mora. The Spumante Metodo Classico Rosé 2018 Chiuse, the first 3000 bottles of pure Nerello Mascalese Rosé, dosage zero, has just come onto the market. Forty-eight months on the lees and disgorgement in February 2023 for a bubbly destined to tell the story of the Sicilian volcano around the world, alongside other shining examples such as Cantine Nicosia’s Sosta Tre Santi, or Noblesse and Lamorémio by Benanti, a winery that has chosen not to claim Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) status for its sparkling wines.

Next stop Sicily

All the while, Sicily is increasingly becoming a destination for international wine tourists. “The members of Assovini Sicilia” says President Laurent de la Gatinais, “are betting more and more on wine tourism and are successfully contributing to driving the Sicilian brand by enhancing their region. 90 percent of our wineries have a structure for wine tourism, for tasting in the cellar. 32 percent of these have accommodation facilities with beds, and 30 percent offer catering. The services offered by Assovini wineries are becoming more and more accurate and diversified, turning into wine experiences: over 51 percent offer everything from cooking courses to wellness courses, from wine trekking to tours that increasingly interact with the landscape and culture of the places”.

Among the models to be imitated is one from overseas. “By combining the winning hospitality marketing strategies adopted in California with the uniqueness, the richness of Sicily’s historical, cultural, and archaeological heritage, and the authenticity of the Sicilian places and producers,” says the President of Assovini Sicilia. “Sicily has all the credentials to become a wine destination of excellence: the ‘Sicily Valley’ of the Mediterranean.”

Prosit.