To understand the volcanic wines of Sicily, it helps to spend some time on the colossus of the island, Mount Etna. The great volcano — the highest and most active in Europe — towers over Sicily at almost 11,000 feet and is visible from just about every vantage point.
Its not infrequent eruptions, including the latest this summer, are a reminder of both its power and its influence over human and all other forms of life here, including the vineyards that arc around Etna’s north, east, and south slopes.
As you trek up and down the volcano’s barren landscape, you come across jagged fields of hardened magma, some of it deposited just months ago and still hot to the touch. Much farther down the slopes, the passage of time — hundreds and thousands of years — has transformed the rocks into the mineral-rich soils that inform the vineyards and the wines of Etna.
In some places, lava has buried vineyards over the years. In others, it has flowed right next to them but spared them, serving as a dramatic reminder of the monumental role the volcano plays here. Vineyard owners and winemakers often cite the lava to mark place and time, one pointing out that his vineyard “is on the other side of the lava flow of 1911.”
Marco de Grazia, a leading figure in Etna wines and owner of Tenuta delle Terre Nere, cites Etna’s “extraordinary diversity” of soils, climates, and altitudes as what makes the region’s wines so
