Southern & western Sicily

Cerasuolo di Vittoria: Sicily's only DOCG - a bright cherry-red Frappato blend.

A south-eastern red from two grapes: Frappato brings strawberry, cherry and a floral lift, Nero d'Avola adds body and dark fruit. Light to medium in weight, juicy and fresh, it is a red you can serve slightly cool. Classico, from the historic core around Vittoria and Acate, is the fuller, more serious version.

A south-eastern red from two grapes: Frappato brings strawberry, cherry and a floral lift, Nero d'Avola adds body and dark fruit. Light to medium in weight, juicy and fresh, it is a red you can serve slightly cool. Classico, from the historic core around Vittoria and Acate, is the fuller, more serious version.

Grillo: the west coast's white - peach, citrus, almond and a salty finish.

Grillo ripens well in the heat and keeps its freshness, giving a dry, medium-bodied white that smells of peach and citrus and tastes of sea salt. Once used only for Marsala, it is now the west's everyday white, and the best examples age well.

Grillo ripens well in the heat and keeps its freshness, giving a dry, medium-bodied white that smells of peach and citrus and tastes of sea salt. Once used only for Marsala, it is now the west's everyday white, and the best examples age well.

Pasta alla Norma, caponata or aubergine parmigiana with Frappato.

A fruity, mid-weight red with crisp acidity and gentle tannin matches tomato and aubergine without overpowering them. Serve it a little cool.

A fruity, mid-weight red with crisp acidity and gentle tannin matches tomato and aubergine without overpowering them. Serve it a little cool.

Passito di Pantelleria: sun-dried Zibibbo with apricot, fig and orange peel.

A sweet wine from Zibibbo (Muscat of Alexandria), grown on a windswept volcanic island closer to Tunisia than to Sicily. The grapes dry in the sun, so the wine is concentrated, honeyed and fragrant, yet kept fresh by a salty-mineral lift.

A sweet wine from Zibibbo (Muscat of Alexandria), grown on a windswept volcanic island closer to Tunisia than to Sicily. The grapes dry in the sun, so the wine is concentrated, honeyed and fragrant, yet kept fresh by a salty-mineral lift.

Gift: Donnafugata Ben Ryè, or a Bukkuram or Nes from Pantelleria.

A sun-dried Zibibbo dessert wine that is unique to the island, long-lived and easy to carry in a half-bottle.

A sun-dried Zibibbo dessert wine that is unique to the island, long-lived and easy to carry in a half-bottle.

Frappato: light, strawberry-scented and low in tannin, lovely lightly chilled.

Vittoria's own red grape. Pale ruby, with wild strawberry, cherry and white pepper, and little tannin. It adds perfume to Cerasuolo and makes pretty single-grape wines.

Vittoria's own red grape. Pale ruby, with wild strawberry, cherry and white pepper, and little tannin. It adds perfume to Cerasuolo and makes pretty single-grape wines.

Local red for fish: Occhipinti Il Frappato.

The reference Frappato: pale, perfumed and delicate - lovely with tomato and seafood.

The reference Frappato: pale, perfumed and delicate - lovely with tomato and seafood.

Varietal Frappato: Sicily's light, strawberry-scented red, best lightly chilled.

Often sold as Il Frappato. Pale ruby, low in tannin and high in freshness, with strawberry, cherry and a peppery edge. Pour it with a slight chill beside tomato and aubergine dishes. Most is ready on release; the best keep for years.

Often sold as Il Frappato. Pale ruby, low in tannin and high in freshness, with strawberry, cherry and a peppery edge. Pour it with a slight chill beside tomato and aubergine dishes. Most is ready on release; the best keep for years.

Valle dell'Acate: family-run organic estate; 'BDN' Classico and a single-plot Cerasuolo.

The Jacono family, now in its sixth generation, farms red sandy soils in Acate, inside the Classico zone. BDN is the traditional Nero d'Avola and Frappato blend in big neutral oak and concrete; Iri da Iri is a more concentrated single-plot version.

The Jacono family, now in its sixth generation, farms red sandy soils in Acate, inside the Classico zone. BDN is the traditional Nero d'Avola and Frappato blend in big neutral oak and concrete; Iri da Iri is a more concentrated single-plot version.

Raw red prawns from Mazara del Vallo with dry Zibibbo.

The prawns are served raw or lightly marinated in citrus. The grape's floral lift flatters their sweetness, and its salty finish echoes the sea.

The prawns are served raw or lightly marinated in citrus. The grape's floral lift flatters their sweetness, and its salty finish echoes the sea.

Marsala: from kitchen staple to dry, nutty, long-aged wine for sipping.

A fortified wine from around Trapani, made from local white grapes (red ones for rubino). Young Fine is for cooking. Aged Superiore, Riserva and above all Vergine are dry, nutty and savoury - sip them like Sherry, with aged cheese or at the end of a meal.

A fortified wine from around Trapani, made from local white grapes (red ones for rubino). Young Fine is for cooking. Aged Superiore, Riserva and above all Vergine are dry, nutty and savoury - sip them like Sherry, with aged cheese or at the end of a meal.

Noto and Pachino Nero d'Avola: full, ripe and plummy - Sicily's serious red.

In the far south-east, around Noto and Pachino, Nero d'Avola gets full sun and sea air: dark cherry, plum, cocoa and firm tannin. Single-estate bottles from named sites are the quality tier; inland high-altitude estates make a cooler, fresher, more savoury version.

In the far south-east, around Noto and Pachino, Nero d'Avola gets full sun and sea air: dark cherry, plum, cocoa and firm tannin. Single-estate bottles from named sites are the quality tier; inland high-altitude estates make a cooler, fresher, more savoury version.

Celebration: Marco De Bartoli's Vecchio Samperi or a long-aged Marsala Vergine.

A rare, small-production wine that does not exist outside Sicily and is a world away from kitchen Marsala. Ideal for serious wine friends.

A rare, small-production wine that does not exist outside Sicily and is a world away from kitchen Marsala. Ideal for serious wine friends.

Catarratto: Sicily's most planted white - fresh, soft and herbal at altitude.

Long dismissed as a bulk grape, it gives citrus, stone fruit and savoury herbs, and does best on limestone and at height. It is the base of Alcamo, a Marsala grape and a parent of Grillo.

Long dismissed as a bulk grape, it gives citrus, stone fruit and savoury herbs, and does best on limestone and at height. It is the base of Alcamo, a Marsala grape and a parent of Grillo.

Off the beaten path: COS Pithos Rosso, Occhipinti SP68 or Porta del Vento Saray.

Clay-jar, biodynamic or orange wines from small growers; conversation starters you will not find in most shops.

Clay-jar, biodynamic or orange wines from small growers; conversation starters you will not find in most shops.

Marco De Bartoli: Marsala's quality conscience - Vecchio Samperi and long-aged Vergine.

Founded in 1978 near Marsala by a man set on reviving the old, unsweetened style. Vecchio Samperi is dry, nutty and unfortified; the Marsala range runs from the fresh Vigna La Miccia to the Vergine and the Superiore Riserva 10 Anni.

Marco De Bartoli (1945-2011) started his estate in 1978 on the road from Marsala towards Mazara del Vallo with an unfashionable aim: to bring back Marsala as it was before it became an industrial, sweetened product. He worked with native yeasts, little sulphur and long oxidative ageing in old wooden casks. At the top is Vecchio Samperi, a Grillo perpetuo with an average age of around fifteen years, dry, savoury and unfortified. Next come the Marsalas proper: Vigna La Miccia, lighter and fresher; the Superiore Riserva 10 Anni, with dried fig and walnut depth; and the austere, almondy Vergine. He was also among the first to make a dry varietal Grillo in the 1980s, and the estate has a second site on Pantelleria. After his death his sons Sebastiano and Renato and daughter Josephine took over, and the family keeps pressing the case for the perpetuo style and a more traditional Marsala.

Feudo Montoni: old-vine, organic inland Nero d'Avola - Lagnusa and Vrucara.

A family estate at Cammarata in Sicily's mountainous interior, run by Fabio Sireci. Lagnusa and Vrucara are the two single-site Nero d'Avola reds to know, made without showy oak.

Fabio Sireci, third generation of the family at Feudo Montoni, makes the wines himself at Contrada Montoni Vecchi near Cammarata, inland in the province of Agrigento. The estate's winemaking history goes back to 1469, and the vines are among the old ones of the island's interior. Vineyards sit high, on steep slopes between roughly 550 and 750 metres, and are certified organic, with only local grapes. The altitude is the point: it keeps Nero d'Avola fresh and savoury rather than jammy. Vrucara comes from pre-phylloxera vines; Lagnusa is the other single-site red. Both are traditionally made and widely held up as benchmarks of the style. The range also includes Grillo della Timpa, Catarratto del Masso and Inzolia dei Fornelli whites, a Perricone red called Perricone del Core and two passitos. Here is the quiet, mountain face of Sicily, a long way from the sunny coast.

Gulfi: organic Nero d'Avola crus from Pachino, named by site, not grape.

Based in Chiaramonte Gulfi in the Iblei hills, Gulfi farms organically and bottles Nero d'Avola from named Pachino sites: NeroMaccarj, NeroBaronj, NeroSanlore and NeroBufaleffj, plus the easier NeroJbleo.

Gulfi works in the Iblei foothills around Chiaramonte Gulfi, inside the Cerasuolo di Vittoria zone, and in Pachino at Sicily's south-eastern tip, where some bush vines predate phylloxera. The family moved in the mid-1990s to a low-intervention style that was organic from the start, partnering with the enologist Salvo Foti: native yeasts, moderate maceration, large neutral casks and used barrels, no new oak. The Nero d'Avola wines are named for their sites rather than the grape. NeroMaccarj, NeroBufaleffj, NeroBaronj and NeroSanlore each come from different soils, while NeroJbleo, from the hills, is the approachable entry. Carjcanti is a Carricante-based white, and the Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico leans on Nero d'Avola more than Frappato. The stated aim is for Pachino to become a name in its own right. This is the producer to open if you want to see how serious southern Nero d'Avola can be.

De Bartoli Bukkuram: Pantelleria passito from the family's own bush-vine terraces.

The family farms a small estate in the Bukkuram district of the island. The passito comes in two cuvées, Padre della Vigna and Sole d'Agosto, and the same house makes a dry Zibibbo.

Marco De Bartoli took land at Bukkuram on Pantelleria in the 1980s, planting Zibibbo as bush vines on stone-walled terraces and making passito there alongside his Marsala. The same low-intervention approach applies: native yeasts and little sulphur. Bukkuram Passito comes in two cuvées, Padre della Vigna and Sole d'Agosto, and the island's top vintages are released as separate bottles, so ask what is current. The estate also makes Pietranera, a dry Zibibbo, which makes it a rare place to compare the sweet and dry faces of the grape in one visit. Pantelleria's wind, long rainless summers and volcanic soils concentrate the fruit. Expect dried apricot, candied orange peel, fig and honey, with a saline lift that keeps the sweetness from feeling heavy. It is a wine for the end of a meal, served cool, in small glasses.

Vecchio Samperi is Marsala's old style - but legally not Marsala.

Marco De Bartoli's Vecchio Samperi is aged by the old perpetuo method and left unfortified, so it sits outside the Marsala DOC and is sold simply as wine. It is dry, nutty and savoury - closer to fine Sherry than to kitchen Marsala.

Most Marsala is fortified: spirit is added, a habit that began when the English merchant John Woodhouse started stabilising the local wine for export in the late 1700s. In 1980 Marco De Bartoli bottled the first Vecchio Samperi, a deliberate return to what came before: a wine kept for years in old casks and topped up from a standing blend, a vino perpetuo. Made from Grillo and aged by a solera-style system for an average of around fifteen years, it is not fortified, so it falls outside the Marsala denomination and is classified as plain wine. In the glass it is dry and tawny, with dried fig, walnut and a salty edge. The family has argued for a place for the perpetuo style inside the denomination, but for now you find it by producer, not by tier. Treat it as a sipping wine, served cool, like an aged Sherry.

COS: the Vittoria pioneer - Cerasuolo Classico and clay-amphora Pithos wines.

Founded in 1980 by three friends in Acate, COS farms biodynamically and helped put Cerasuolo di Vittoria on the map. The Classico, a Nero d'Avola and Frappato blend, is the benchmark; Pithos Rosso is the same idea made in clay jars.

Three friends - Giambattista Cilia, Giusto Occhipinti and Cirino Strano - started COS in 1980 with an old family cellar and a few bush-vine plots near Vittoria; the name is their initials. Strano left, and Cilia and Occhipinti carry on. They farmed biodynamically from the start, ferment with native yeasts and avoid fining and filtering. Two wines tell the story. The Cerasuolo di Vittoria Classico, about 60 percent Nero d'Avola and 40 percent Frappato, is fermented in concrete and aged in large old oak: transparent, fresh and mineral rather than woody. Pithos Rosso is the same idea made in Spanish clay amphorae, which COS began using in 2000 after looking at Georgian and Tunisian traditions; clay lets the wine breathe without adding oak flavour. Single-site Cerasuolos such as Delle Fontane show how much the plot matters. The partners are also credited with helping win Cerasuolo its DOCG.

Arianna Occhipinti: organic, biodynamic Frappato of real delicacy - Il Frappato, SP68.

Born in Vittoria in 1982, Arianna Occhipinti began in 2004 with a plot of abandoned vines and now farms an organic estate across nine contrade. Her Il Frappato is the reference for the grape.

Arianna Occhipinti, niece of COS co-founder Giusto Occhipinti, started with a small plot of abandoned vines at Fossa di Lupo in 2004, when she was twenty-two, and released her first wine in 2006. The vineyards are certified organic and have been farmed biodynamically since 2009; fermentations are spontaneous, with no fining and little sulphur. The wines are delicate and mineral rather than big. Il Frappato is all Frappato, left on its skins for about a month and then aged in large old oak: the one to taste to understand the grape. SP68 Rosso is mostly Frappato with some Nero d'Avola, kept in concrete, fresher and easier. Siccagno is pure Nero d'Avola and the most structured. Grotte Alte is her Cerasuolo di Vittoria from old vines, and Pettineo is a single-site Frappato from sandy soil in the Vino di Contrada series. The soils differ by site: Fossa di Lupo's limestone gives structure, Bombolieri's chalk finer tannin.

Porta del Vento: Marco Sferlazzo's organic high-altitude Catarratto - dry, orange and sparkling.

A small estate above Camporeale in the hills inland from Palermo, on steep slopes above six hundred metres. Catarratto appears as a dry white, an orange wine called Saray and a bottle-fermented sparkler, La Mira.

Marco Sferlazzo grew up in Palermo and returned to the family land at Camporeale, in the hills about forty kilometres inland, after helping his grandfather at harvests. The ridge sits above six hundred metres and the vines are old, low-yielding and organic, worked by hand on steep slopes, with herbs growing among them and the wind keeping the vines healthy. Catarratto is the signature: made dry; as Saray, an orange wine with long skin contact; and as La Mira, a bottle-fermented sparkler. There is also Maqué Rosé, Perricone pressed straight off the skins, and full-bodied Perricone and Nero d'Avola reds. This is the western Sicily that almost never reaches export lists, and the best demonstration that Catarratto, long a bulk grape, can taste like a mountain white.

Red sand over limestone and sea air keep Vittoria's reds fresh.

Vittoria's vines grow in a thin layer of red sand over limestone, close to the sea and sheltered by the Iblei hills. Despite the heat, breezes and cool nights preserve acidity, which is why Frappato and Cerasuolo taste bright rather than jammy.

Vittoria's vines grow in a thin layer of red sand over limestone, close to the sea and sheltered by the Iblei hills. Despite the heat, breezes and cool nights preserve acidity, which is why Frappato and Cerasuolo taste bright rather than jammy.

In the glass: Bright acidity, red fruit and fine tannin instead of heavy ripeness

Bush vines in wind-sheltering hollows make Pantelleria's concentrated Zibibbo.

Pantelleria is a volcanic island closer to Tunisia than to Sicily. Vines are trained as low bushes (alberello) in hollows dug into the ground, out of the wind, on lava-stone terraces. The method is UNESCO-listed and gives small crops of very ripe, aromatic grapes.

Pantelleria is a volcanic island closer to Tunisia than to Sicily. Vines are trained as low bushes (alberello) in hollows dug into the ground, out of the wind, on lava-stone terraces. The method is UNESCO-listed and gives small crops of very ripe, aromatic grapes.

In the glass: Concentrated, aromatic fruit with a saline, mineral edge

Altitude keeps Nero d'Avola and Catarratto fresh; coastal vines ripen faster.

The most interesting inland wines come from high ground: Feudo Montoni's vines climb to roughly 550-750 metres and Porta del Vento sits above 600 metres. Cooler nights keep acidity and a savoury edge that low coastal sites lack.

The most interesting inland wines come from high ground: Feudo Montoni's vines climb to roughly 550-750 metres and Porta del Vento sits above 600 metres. Cooler nights keep acidity and a savoury edge that low coastal sites lack.

In the glass: More freshness, savoury depth and less jammy fruit

In Pachino, Nero d'Avola changes with the soil of each named site.

Gulfi bottles Nero d'Avola by site from the far south-east. Iron-rich gravel, limestone, volcanic clay and sand each give a different wine within a few kilometres.

The far south-east around Pachino has some of Sicily's oldest and most distinctive Nero d'Avola, including pre-phylloxera bush vines, and a few growers now bottle it by site rather than by grape. Gulfi's contrada wines show how much the ground changes the wine within a few kilometres. Maccari, on iron-rich gravel, is the most masculine and develops leathery notes. Bufaleffi, a mix of volcanic soil, clay and limestone, is powerful but elegant. Baroni, mainly limestone, is the most approachable and fruit-driven. San Lorenzo, on sand nearest the sea, is the most delicate, with a salty note. The estate wants Pachino to be known as a place, the way Barolo is, and its labels do not carry the grape name. Tasting two of these crus side by side is the quickest way to see that Nero d'Avola can be a site-driven grape and not only a blending partner.

In the glass: From leathery and powerful (gravel) to delicate and saline (sand)

Passito grapes are dried in the sun, then fermented slowly.

On Pantelleria the Zibibbo is picked by hand from the end of July and laid out on mats and racks in the sun until it shrivels. The result is a very sweet, concentrated must that ferments for weeks and rests before release.

On Pantelleria the Zibibbo is picked by hand from the end of July and laid out on mats and racks in the sun until it shrivels. The result is a very sweet, concentrated must that ferments for weeks and rests before release.

In the glass: Concentrated apricot, fig and honey flavours, with a long finish

Aged Marsala and perpetuo wines are blended in a solera-style system.

Instead of bottling each vintage, the best houses draw off a part of the oldest cask and top it up with younger wine. The result is a very steady house style and a nutty, oxidised flavour.

Instead of bottling each vintage, the best houses draw off a part of the oldest cask and top it up with younger wine. The result is a very steady house style and a nutty, oxidised flavour.

In the glass: Dried fig, walnut, almond and a salty, savoury finish

Clay amphorae let the wine breathe without adding oak flavour.

COS began using Spanish clay jars in 2000 for Pithos wines; concrete and big old casks do the same job for the other wines. The aim is purity of fruit and transparency of place.

COS began using Spanish clay jars in 2000 for Pithos wines; concrete and big old casks do the same job for the other wines. The aim is purity of fruit and transparency of place.

In the glass: Fresh, transparent fruit with a mineral edge and no wood sweetness

Modern Grillo and Catarratto are made in steel to stay fresh.

Cool fermentation in stainless steel keeps the citrus and peach aromatics; a little oak is used by some for body, which suits richer dishes such as couscous.

Cool fermentation in stainless steel keeps the citrus and peach aromatics; a little oak is used by some for body, which suits richer dishes such as couscous.

In the glass: Fresh, aromatic whites; oak adds roundness

Cerasuolo is a two-grape blend: how and when it is blended shapes the wine.

COS ferments its Nero d'Avola and Frappato together; Valle dell'Acate vinifies them separately and blends later. Both then favour big neutral containers that protect fruit.

Cerasuolo di Vittoria is a blend of two grapes with quite different personalities, so when and how the blend is made shapes the wine. COS ferments Nero d'Avola and Frappato together, so the two grapes share the fermentation and the wine grows up as one. Valle dell'Acate takes the opposite route: it vinifies the two separately and blends later, which lets the winemaker adjust the balance of Frappato's perfume and Nero d'Avola's depth. Both then favour big, neutral containers - large old Slavonian oak and concrete - to protect fruit rather than add wood, and single-plot Cerasuolos and amphora versions push this further. When you taste two Classicos side by side, notice how much red fruit versus dark fruit you get, how pale the colour is and how long the finish runs. It tells you which grape leads and how the producer handled the blend. The plain, younger version is meant to be served a little cool.

In the glass: Co-fermented wines feel integrated; separate blending gives more control over fruit versus structure

Old big oak for reds: savoury and transparent rather than woody.

Gulfi, Valle dell'Acate, Occhipinti and COS all use large neutral casks or concrete for their reds. The goal is red fruit, pepper and herbs rather than vanilla.

Gulfi, Valle dell'Acate, Occhipinti and COS all use large neutral casks or concrete for their reds. The goal is red fruit, pepper and herbs rather than vanilla.

In the glass: Savoury, red-fruited reds with soft oak influence