Sicily Excels Despite Mother Nature's Wrath: The 2022 and 2023 Vintages

BY ERIC GUIDO |

Every time I travel to Sicily, I leave with surprising new takeaways about the region. Last year, I spoke in detail about Sicily’s mountainous terrain. Wine lovers often assume that Sicily is flat (with the obvious exception of Mount Etna). However, when one lands in Palermo or Catania, it becomes apparent that mountains are everywhere. The same goes for Sicily’s interior. The only relatively flat areas exist along Sicily’s southwestern coast. This year, Renato de Bartoli, of Marco de Bartoli (who recently started a new project on Mount Etna that I highly recommend ), explained that Sicily not only has the most hillside vineyards in Italy, but also has the second-highest percentage of mountain viticulture of all Italian winegrowing regions (after Trentino-Alto Adige). Access to higher elevations benefits Sicilian winegrowers as warming trends continue. There is a clear trend toward planting highter and higher in the mountains to mitigate the slow increase in temperatures across the island. 

Renato de Bartoli in the barrel and amphora rooms at his estate in Marsala.

Renato de Bartoli in the barrel and amphora rooms at his estate in Marsala.

With each visit and comprehensive tasting in Sicily, I encounter new winemaking projects across the island in previously unfamiliar areas. This is one of the region's best assets, ensuring continued growth in the market. Sicily possesses a plethora of unique, often forgotten terroirs just waiting to be discovered. This frequently comes down to prephylloxera times, as Sicilian wine culture thrived through the late 19th century. The combination of selling bulk wine to local families, shipping wine north to bolster the lighter reds of cooler climates, and producing fine wines kept the Sicilian winemaking industry solvent. Sadly, when phylloxera reached the island and decimated most of its vineyards, materials for grafting onto American rootstocks were scarce. As a result, families with generations of winemaking in their blood either shifted their focus to other agricultural products or left altogether. The areas west of Mount Etna, toward the center of Sicily, are a perfect example of growth potential, featuring higher elevations, biodiversity and a range of soilsTasca d'Almerita, one of the larger wineries in Sicily, has been capitalizing on this resource at their Tenuta Regaleali estate for well over a century, but today, smaller producers are catching on, often returning to their families’ roots and establishing new ventures. It’s a very exciting time in the world of Sicilian wine. 

Sicily’s Broad Diversity

I’ve spoken on this topic ad nauseam, so I won’t go too deep here. However, it bears repeating that due to the size of the island, surrounding seas, diverse elevations, warming winds from Africa, cooling currents from the north and multiple islands offshoots (Pantelleria, Salina, Lipari and Vulcano), Sicily can excel with nearly any grape variety from around the world. Sicily’s indigenous grapes and unique interpretations of international varieties offer a lot of choices for consumers. The expansive Sicilia DOC appellation allows winemakers to showcase diverse styles, all with the name of the variety on the front label. This makes it easy for consumers to distinguish between bottlings of Catarratto, Grillo, Zibibbo, Frappato, Nero d’Avola, Perricone or Nerello Mascalese, as well as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Syrah and Chardonnay. That said, as much as I love indigenous Sicilian varieties, I often find myself enamored with the Syrahs from the southeast, Cabernet Sauvignons from the rugged center of the island, or stylish Chardonnays from Menfi. Keep an open mind when considering Sicilian wines: they will challenge your preconceptions and overdeliver on pleasure and quality. 

Planeta’s Ulmo vineyards, just north of the Menfi coast.

Planeta’s Ulmo vineyards, just north of the Menfi coast.

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Sicily continues to impress with a surge of dynamic new projects and the emergence of spectacular, previously unexplored terroirs across the island’s mountainous interior, all while offering wines of unbeatable value.

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