Sicily

This largest Mediterranean island is home to the most vineyards in all of Italy. Wine was successfully grown here already in the times of ancient Greece and not without reason did the Greeks once call it "Enotria" (land of wine). Sicily is an incredibly diverse region with a large number of different microclimates, from dry hot areas such as Noto, through cooler well-ventilated hilly Monreale south of Palermo with large temperature differences, to the very specific Etna, which resembles Piedmont more than the Mediterranean.

Dense, strong, almost jammy Sicilian wines were previously mainly used for export to the northern parts of Italy, where they were added to less pronounced wines. Today, Sicilian winemakers focus a lot on the quality of their production, reduce vineyard yields, often grow organically and biodynamically, and alongside international varieties, they primarily rely on local ones such as Grillo, Catarratto, Insolia, Nero d'Avola, Frappato, or Nerello Mascalese.

The most interesting wine region is Etna. Volcanic soil, high altitude (vineyards here commonly climb up to 1000 m above sea level) and cooler, wetter climate with significant temperature fluctuations give rise to incredibly fresh and mineral white wines, and complex elegant reds.

The wines from the Aeolian Islands, which again are strongly volcanic mineral and even salty, are also definitely worth noting. The widely spread variety here is the white Malvasia delle Lipari, which forms the basis of the dessert wine of the same name.

A Sicilian specialty is the fortified wine from the Marsala area, which was the most famous Italian wine in the past and was loved by Giuseppe Garibaldi.