Our 2 Week Sicilian Wine Road Trip
Uncover must visit wineries in Camporeale, Alcamo, Marsala, Agrigento, Vittoria, Pachino, Siracusa, Mount Etna, and more!
I have wanted to visit Sicily for as long as I can remember. The food, the wine, the history — there is so much to discover! Now that I’m working on starting my own wine imports business and wine club, it was the perfect time to take the wine hunt to Sicily. After all, I’m looking for off the beaten path wines made with indigenous varieties and the planet in mind. And Sicily has a TON of those. So, I planned a 2 week road trip starting in Palermo and working our way south around the coast all the way to Mount Etna. Read on to discover Sicilian wineries to check out on your visit to Italy’s largest island, along with some must try dishes and must see sights.
Camporeale
After landing in Palermo, we headed one hour south of the city to Camporeale for a day of wine tasting. Camporeale is the land of Catarratto and Perricone, two native Sicilian grapes worth discovering. Soils here are typically clay and limestone, lending fresh character to Camporeale wines despite the Sicilian heat.
You can learn more about Catarratto here and if you’re not familiar with Perricone, it’s notoriously difficult to work with according to all of the winemakers we visited. Perricone tends to yield ruby red wines that can be quite tannic (sometimes a green tannin if not fully ripened) with bramble fruit flavors and a peppery earthiness.
Terra di Gratia
Our first stop was Terra di Gratia, a family owned winery cultivating 15 hectares of vineyards (45 hectares total planted to agriculture) of Catarratto, Syrah, Perricone, and Nero d’Avola, all certified organic. The land has been in the family for multiple generations and once encompassed 450 hectares, which have since been divided amongst generations. They make less than 10,000 bottles annually, so definitely an artisanal or boutique production.
Gaspare, the proprietor, met us in town and we hopped in his car to head to the hilltop winery with a sweeping view of the valley below. It had rained a ton the day before and we ran into adventures on the wine trail: a local who got his car stuck in the mud! We tried to help him out, but ended up waiting for a local tractor to come pull him out and clear the way.
After tasting some tank samples, including an interesting base for sparkling wine made from a variety he’s working on recovering called Lucignola, we headed into his tasting room, and sat down to eat and taste some more!
My wine highlights were the two ancestrale sparkling wines made from Catarratto and Perricone respectively, and a Perricone red wine. Ancestral method sparkling wines are bottled before fermentation completes, then the wine remains on the dead yeast cells in bottle. It can be a risky technique, but beautiful when done well.
Tasting Notes:
Bianco Mosso Ancestrale Catarratto
Really nice complexity. Notes of orange, delicate white flowers, orange blossom, flint, and brioche with crisp zingy acidity.
Rosa Mosso Ancestrale Perricone
Wow, SUPER fresh! Loaded with tropical fruit notes, like a capri sun fruit punch. Notes of peach and passion fruit on the palate. Nice complexity, but honestly the perfect bottle of frizzante for a summer beach day or pool day, could even go with bbq. Incredible freshness and salinity. This wine would pair with pretty much anything.
2021 Perricone
Ages 1 year in tank followed by 1 year in bottle
Big fan and it’s relatively low alcohol at 12.5% abv.
Very savory, balsamico, artichoke, forest floor, medium to low acidity, subtle red fruits on the palate, good persistence. The tannin is super integrated. The wine in general is very balanced and smooth. Love this. Subtle spice on the nose. Really particular, but in the best way.
If you book a tasting with Gaspare, come hungry because his mom prepares an array of Sicilian specialties to enjoy along with the wines, including caponata, sfincione, local cheeses, and these 15 ingredient olives that I couldn’t get enough of (and will be trying to recreate).
Alessandro Camporeale
We visited Alessandro Camporeale on a recommendation from my husband’s local winemaker friend. They’re a pretty historic producer in Camporeale and have been around for quite some time. Hence, they offer a much larger production than what I’m looking for, somewhere in the hundreds of thousands of bottles. Alessandro Camporeale is very well-known for their Syrah, which we didn’t even try while there. The tasting experience was lovely, but I have to be honest that the wines weren’t for me.
We tasted Catarratto, Perricone, Nero d’Avola, and Etna Bianco and Etna Rosso from their Mount Etna winery, Generazione Alessandro. Yes, they were well made and technically correct. But for me, they were lacking character and lacking a sense of place. Some were even missing distinctive varietal characteristics. I don’t know, other people on our trip also recommended a visit here for the Syrah especially. So, maybe take what I’m saying with a grain of salt, but the winery just wasn’t a stand out for me.
Porta del Vento
On the other hand, I really enjoyed our tasting at Porta del Vento. Winemaker Marco Sferlazzo was a pioneer in the Camporeale wine industry. Now his son, also named Marco, is joining the family business and finishing up his wine studies. The vineyards are certified organic and biodynamic, and Marco’s wines are expressive natural wines. His winery sits on a hilltop 600 meters above sea level and definitely lives up to the name, as it’s typically super windy up there.
We tasted through their range of wines focused on Catarratto and Perricone, plus a Nerello Mascalese. The highlights for me were the ancestral method Catarratto and the 2021 Perricone Monteale DOC. All wines fermented on indigenous yeasts and whole cluster pressed. They were so welcoming and we had a great conversation. Oh, and they feed you a lot, too! Outstanding hospitality to say the least.
The Perricone saw a combination of cement and neutral oak with 7 days maceration during fermentation. It was really pretty and elegant with dark frutti di bosco flavors (blackberry, blueberry, some dark cherry), with a green macchia or balsamico note that was so unique and delicious.
Palermo
There is SO much to discover in Palermo and we really only had a full day there. So, this is by no means an all encompassing guide, but these are a few must see and must eat things I absolutely loved.
Whatever you do, do not miss wandering through the street markets in Palermo. The four main markets of Palermo are Ballaró, Capo, Vucciria and Borgo Vecchio. We hit Ballaró and Capo, which is right up the street from Ballaró. They were both booming with vendors, who enthusiastically yell to get your attention as you walk by. Be prepared.
Must eats as far as street food goes include arancine, panelle, grilled octopus, and sarde a beccafico. The latter of which was my favorite dish of the trip, featuring sardines filled with breadcrumbs soaked in orange juice with pine nuts, parsley, and raisins. Yum!
Here are a few churches and sites we visited that are definitely worthwhile:
Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio (La Martorana) - breathtakingly beautiful inside
Chiesa del Gesu - also stunning
If you’re into natural wine, then Dal Barone is the spot for you. Beware that the wines can be very natural if you know what I mean, to the point of faulty. But the vibes are good and it’s a fun spot.
For the BEST granita, head over near the port to Graniteria a’ Cala. Honestly, best Granita of the whole trip! We tried to go back the next day for breakfast, but they weren’t open yet and we were heartbroken.
Alcamo
After Palermo, we headed about an hour west to Alcamo to visit two wineries: Adamo Bio and Aldo Viola.
Adamo Bio is housed in an old baglio (agricultural building) of the legendary Marsala producer Florio. They farm 40 hectares of organic vineyards of Zibibbo, Catarratto, Grillo, and Nero d’Avola. The wine tasting experience includes lunch and the food was absolutely fantastic. They also offer culinary experiences like cooking classes if you’re interested in learning how to prepare some Sicilian specialties.
My favorite wines at Adamo Bio were the aromatic and fresh Zibibbo, as well as the Nero d’Avola made in stainless steel for a bright, fruity, drink now style.
Aldo Viola was also a tasting experience to remember. We didn’t necessarily have a traditional wine tasting experience here, but more so chatted with Aldo, learned about his winemaking philosophy, were shown around his new winery, and tasted a couple of his wines. One was a skin contact Catarratto that was absolutely alive and resonating with character. The other was a 2016 magnum of Syrah that had been opened for a party the day before and was honestly so special, elegant, and reminiscent of a French Côte Rôtie.
For those who might not be familiar, Aldo is sort of considered one of the founders of the natural wine movement in Sicily. While I wouldn’t consider myself a natural wine enthusiast, his wines were truly special, so clean and expressive. After spending time with him, you get a sense that he’s a true vigneron, the kind that is so passionate about his craft and has made sacrifices to get to where he is today. Honestly, the type of winemaker that’s harder and harder to come by these days.
Marsala
Next, we headed to Marsala for a visit to the historical Florio, Marco de Bartoli, and Mastro di Baglio.
Florio
If you’re in Marsala, you can’t not visit Florio, established in 1833 by Vincenzo Florio, the son of a Calabrian grocer, who would go on to build a true empire. He bought a plot of land on the coast of Marsala between the British owned Marsala houses, Ingraham and Woodhouse. He went on to expand into maritime transportation with something like 90 ships (only 1 of which returned after they were used in the war), tuna fishing, and sulfur mining.
Florio also tapped into some genius marketing during the times of prohibition in the states. They marketed their Marsala for medicinal purposes against malaria and sales continued to boom! Unfortunately, due to a lack of surviving male heirs down the road, the Florio family name was lost in time and their various business holdings broke up.
Marco de Bartoli
Marco de Bartoli was easily my favorite winery of the trip. At a time when other producers were making big bucks on fortified Marsala as we know it today, Marco de Bartoli decided to forge his own path by embracing tradition and the true roots of Marsala.
He produced a “pre-British” oxidative style, non-fortified wine made from Grillo using the perpetuo (solera) system to produce what’s known as Vecchio Samperi today.
For lovers of oxidative wines, this one will knock your socks off. Loaded with complex flavors of pine, resin, spices, orange peel, licorice root, toasted wood, and brimming with freshness and salinity.
As for Grillo lovers in general, Marco de Bartoli is a master of the variety and you’ll be able to taste a whole range of organic styles and expressions organic, including sparkling, dynamic still whites, skin contact and amphora aged, and Marsala, too!
Mastro di Baglio
I loved our visit to Mastro di Baglio, a natural winery in the Marsala region of Sicily. The hospitality was at an all time high! We had the best time with the group of cousins who founded the winery and are passionate about producing natural wines with respect to traditions and their roots in Marsala.
We tasted through their range of wines, each with their own character and vibrancy.
Frizzante Ancestrale - citrus forward, really fun and fresh with nice concentration and complexity.
Frizzante Ancestrale Rosé - crisp red fruits, clean style for an ancestrale.
Cilocco Catarratto - unfiltered, notes of lemon and quince.
Allaría Grillo - good concentration, fruit forward yet with a saline/mineral streak throughout.
Takkía Syrah - fruit forward style. Red fruits, blackberry, lingonberry, very fine tannins, balanced acidity.
Agrigento
If you’re visiting western Sicily, then you must stop at the Valley of the Temples. The historic site is a testament to how truly great the Greeks were! It’s incredible that some of these temples have been standing since the 8th century BC.
While in the area, a stop at Azienda Agricola Vella would be worthwhile. We were hosted by Paolo, the owner and founder, who left behind a potential medical career to pursue his passion for making wine. The new winery is beautiful and Vella’s range of wines were classic and polished.
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Vittoria
Arianna Occhipinti
If you’re into Sicilian wine, then you’re likely familiar with Arianna Occhipinti, an Italian winemaker in Vittoria who practices organic and biodynamic viticulture. She started releasing her own wines at the young age of 22 and has since garnered much acclaim.
We seriously lucked out to be there on the same day as her Japanese importer, so we got to taste some anteprima (pre-release) bottles and a few older vintages, too!
My favorites were the FL (Fossa di Lupo) 2022 - very balanced. Notes of rose petal, violets, sweet red fruits, crisp acidity and great persistence. So elegant could age beautifully. I also loved the 2021 SM Grillo, loaded with tertiary notes yet still with a vibrant palate. But all of the wines have their own beautiful character and I truly enjoyed them all. She also cultivates olives, grain, capers, and more.
Pachino
Our journey continued south to Pachino where we visited Marabino and Barone Sergio. These two wineries are about a 30 minute drive from Noto, if you happen to be visiting that charming Baroque town.
We popped into Marabino on a whim, as the winery had been recommended by a few winemakers we encountered along the way. The host very graciously welcomed us into the tasting room without an appointment, which is always a sign of great hospitality. Marabino produces natural wines from 29 hectares of organic and biodynamic vineyards.
Just like the wines of Aldo Viola, the high quality of each and every single one of Marabino’s wines surprised me. I love discovering well-made natural wines that are technically correct, and Marabino checked all the boxes for me. While all the wines were fantastic, my favorites were the Muscatedda, Terre Calcaree Nero d’Avola, and the Soleggiato. The latter of which is an unexpectedly good Moscato Bianco made in an oxidative style and aged in demijohns outside under the sun.
Barone Sergio is another worthwhile stop in Pachino. We were hosted by owner Luigia, who returned to work her family’s land and make wines after spending time in Milano. They farm over 110 hectares of land, 25 hectares of which are dedicated to vineyards.
You’ll get a chance to visit their beautiful baglio, take a walk through the nearby vineyards, appreciate the multiple murals done by the same artist who designed the wine labels, and have fun tasting through their wines. Oh, and they also host occasional sunset events, too.
Barone Sergio wines are vibrant and fresh, the kind of wines that are bound to be savored with good times with friends! We tasted an ancestral method frizzante Moscato, a lovely concentrated Nero d’Avola rosato, and a Nero d’Avola from the Eloro DOC (which is a new-to-me DOC from the area).
Mount Etna
We spent the last 4 days of our trip on Mount Etna, but unfortunately I came down with the flu and missed out on most of the wine tastings we had booked there! It was such a bummer to end our wine road trip sick in bed, but what are you going to do?
Before the fever hit while I was still feeling well, I made it to Barone di Villagrande and Tenuta delle Terre Nere.
Barone di Villagrande has cultivated vineyards on Etna since 1727 and the winery has been in the family for 10 generations. Needless to say, you can trust you’re in good hands and are experiencing a piece of Mount Etna history. The views from the winery are absolutely breathtaking, sweeping from the terraced vineyards of Etna all the way to the sea. Plus, they offer a stellar lineup of wines and you can choose between smaller bites and a full meal to pair with your wine tasting experience.
Tenuta delle Terre Nere is a prominent winery on the northern side of Mount Etna. They had a unique start in that the founder was working in wine sales in the U.S. and decided to pursue winemaking on Mount Etna. The wines were spectacular, though mostly aged in oak which I found to cover some of the beautiful character of Nerello Mascalese. But I believe their main market is America, so the style of wine definitely suits the American palate. The Guardiola Etna Rosso DOC was the standout wine for me.
I Vigneri di Salvo Foti is another storied and must visit winery on Etna. I was sad to have missed the tasting we booked there, but Marco said it was stellar. They still make wine in the winery's original palmento, too!
If you pass through Zafferana Etnea while touring around Mount Etna, be sure to stop for a bite to eat at Donna Peppina. I had my favorite arancino from the trip there, filled with a delicious ragu.
I hope you enjoyed this Sicilian wine road trip round up and will use it as inspiration for your own Sicilian wine travels!