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Sicilian Wines
Written By: Marlene Osteen | Issue: April 2024
There’s magic in the soils surrounding Italy’s storied Mount Etna.
Recently I came across an intriguing question posed by a wine critic – “is White Lotus the new Sideways?”
You may recall that in the second season of the HBO series, set along the scenic bluffs of Taormina, Sicily, we saw some of the main characters dining al fresco, in the region’s volcanic vineyards, sipping Etna Bianco – a local white wine made predominantly from carricante.
It’s clear that at the moment wines from Sicily are strutting their mojo. In fact, Sicily, long known for its red wines, has recently been gaining attention for producing the most distinctive and unusual whites in Italy, if not the world.
Indeed, the Etna DOC, hugging the eastern flank of its eponymous volcano, remains one of Italy’s most well-known appellations.
What makes them so different is that unlike the wines of the new world with their characteristic tropical notes, they offer a pronounced savory flavor – in a word, salty. It gives these wines a singular nature found nowhere else. High in acidity and relatively low in alcohol they are racy and refreshing.
“That combination of grape variety, altitude and sandy lava soils is what makes Carricante unique,” says Alessio Planeta of the Planeta Winery (where the HBO scene was shot). “I would imagine the results to be far less interesting in any other territory.”
What’s striking about Sicilian whites is that while there’s a common thread – drinkability and freshness – there’s a lot of variety. Part of that is because of Sicily’s diversity of grapes, and whites made from lesser-known grapes such as grillo and catarratto are also gaining popularity. We’re talking luscious wines with loads of complexity.
Better known for sweet than dry wines, grillo has been an important constituent of the fortified wine Marsala, but modern drinkers have recently begun recognizing its merits when used to make dry white wines. That’s clearly the case with the 2021 Tenute Orestiadi Grillo. It’s crisp yet full-bodied, offering the florality of orange blossom in the nose and the depth of clay and slate in the finish.
Catarratto, a versatile white grape has been planted in Sicily for thousands of years. Though typically blended with carricante in the Etna DOC, across the island, producers have been mining its full-body, citrus-laden potential as a standalone varietal. A great example can be found in the Feudo Montoni 2021 Sicilia Catarratto Masso with fresh fruit and citrus with honeydew melon and chopped mint or thyme.
