Etna: rising force

WHEN I LAST reported on the wines of Etna, back in 2010, the boom had just begun. The Benanti family had been the pioneers of high-quality wine, but had been joined by outsiders such as Andrea Franchetti at Passopisciaro, Marc de Grazia at Terre Nere, and Frank Cornelissen. Their interest was often sparked by an encounter with an exceptionally intriguing Etna wine. A fine bottle would have stood out against many dire wines that were still being made in the past by some traditional wineries that paid little attention to hygiene. At the same time other established wineries, such as Cottanera, moved dramatically to improve quality.

It’s not hard to see where the appeal of Etna lies. First, the landscape. Frequent eruptions have left huge bands of knobbly lava on various slopes of the volcano. It may not sound like the most promising terroir, yet lava does give the