From Afterthought to Icon: Carricante's Sicilian Triumph

How a volcanic terroir and an ancient grape are set to rival the world's finest white wines

I went to Sicily for the reds. When two friends and I set off on our 2017 Sicilian adventure, my expectations were crystal clear: days filled with spectacular vistas, incredible food, stunning architecture—and most importantly, lots of wine, especially lots of Etna Rosso. I was already smitten with these volcanic reds, having fallen hard for the charming Salvo Foti (and his wines) at London's 2014 Real Wine Fair. Sicily's whites? They were barely on my radar. So when I lifted a glass of 2016 Vigne di Eli Etna Bianco DOC to my lips while dining at Noto’s famous Crocifisso restaurant, I was expecting little more than a pleasant aperitivo—something crisp and clean to sip while the day's heat lingered, before moving on to the "real" wines we would enjoy with dinner.

One sip changed everything.

What I tasted was a revelation—a wine of such striking minerality, vitality, and sense of place that it fundamentally shifted my perception of Etna. The wine had been produced by Tenuta delle Terre Nere (Vigne di Eli is a philanthropic side project), the iconic estate founded by Marco de Grazia that helped put Etna Rosso on the world map. But this wasn't one of de Grazia's celebrated reds—it was white, crafted from Etna's signature white grape variety, Carricante.

Before my trip to Sicily, I had given little thought the mountain’s whites. Why would I? Very little was written about them and what was written often seemed to position them as an afterthought to the region’s reds—something you drank in the afternoon or early evening, while the heat of the day still lingered; a precursor to the “real” wines that one would surely drink with dinner. However, day after day, I found myself craving an Etna Bianco long past the acceptable hour. I began looking for examples, young and old, in every restaurant and enoteca we entered. What had started as a pilgrimage to Sicily's reds had become an unexpected love affair with its whites.

The Grape That Thrives Where Others Fail

Carricante has been cultivated on Mount Etna's slopes for centuries, possibly since antiquity. It thrives in the mountain's coolest and highest sites—often planted at elevations exceeding 1,000 meters where Etna’s black grapes struggle to ripen.

The grape finds its spiritual home on Etna's eastern and southern slopes, particularly around the commune of Milo, where the interplay of elevation, exposure, and climate creates ideal growing conditions. Carricante is a naturally late-ripening variety that thrives in these high-altitude sites—where the combination of intense sunlight, significant diurnal temperature variations, and persistent breezes allows the grape to maintain its hallmark acidity while developing complex aromatics over an extended growing season. The ancient volcanic soils—a complex mix of ash, pumice, and lava rock—contribute to the wine's distinctive mineral backbone, but it's this complete terroir package—elevation, climate, soil and winemaker working in concert—that shapes Carricante's unique character and remarkable aging potential.

Etna’s remarkable terroir expresses itself beautifully at every stage of the wine's life. Young Carricante bursts with vibrant citrus, white blossom, and grapefruit pith, underscored by herbal notes and a distinctive smoky, saline finish that speaks directly of its volcanic origins. With age—and these wines age exquisitely—they develop layers of preserved lemon, candied ginger, chamomile, and acacia honey, woven together with toasted almond and beeswax. At their finest, mature Carricante rivals the complexity of great Riesling and White Burgundy.

The Modern Renaissance

While Carricante has ancient roots, its modern renaissance began with Giuseppe Benanti in the late 19th century. The Benanti family had established themselves on Etna in the 1700s, but it was Giuseppe who began seriously working with indigenous varieties like Carricante. When he formally founded Tenuta di Castiglione in 1988, his mission was clear: champion Etna's native vines.

Two years later, Benanti released Pietra Marina Etna Bianco Superiore, a Carricante-driven wine that set a new quality benchmark and proved the grape's serious potential. This single wine transformed perceptions, showing that Etna's whites deserved consideration alongside the region's increasingly celebrated reds.

Other producers quickly followed. Planeta crafted elegant single-vineyard expressions from 80-year-old alberello (bush-trained) vines, while estates like Alta Mora, Cottanera, Tenuta di Fessina, and Pietradolce embraced unoaked styles that emphasized Carricante's natural citrus brightness and saline minerality. Together, these efforts elevated Carricante from obscure local variety to one of Etna's defining grapes.

Tasting the Future

This spring, I returned to Etna for Contrada dell'Etna, the region's premier trade tasting founded by the late Andrea Franchetti of Passopisciaro. The annual event brings together over 100 producers to showcase new releases and highlight the unique terroirs of Etna's various contrade (vineyard districts).

During a blind tasting of Carricante-dominant wines spanning vintages from 2013 to 2024, the quality consistency was remarkable—arguably stronger than the Etna Rosso flight tasted separately. Several wines stood out for their distinctive expressions of place and grape. Maugeri's Etna DOC Bianco Superiore Contrada Volpare 2023 impressed with mineral-driven precision, beautifully balanced by notes of white peach and honeysuckle. I Custodi delle Vigne dell'Etna's Etna DOC Bianco Superiore Contrada Caselle "Imbris" 2020 offered a more generous style, brimming with tropical pineapple, candied ginger, and crisp apple. Meanwhile, Benanti's Etna DOC Bianco Superiore Contrada Rinazzo 2022 showed almost chalky minerality with the kind of tight structure that promises graceful evolution for a decade or more. Each wine demonstrated Carricante's ability to express its terroir with both clarity and complexity.

No Longer the Understudy

Encouraged by the results of the morning’s blind tasting, I ventured further into my Etna Bianco exploration, visiting dozens of participating producers throughout the afternoon. With each glass, the impressions formed that morning only strengthened: Etna's Carricante-based wines are nothing short of spectacular. The consistency of quality across different producers, vintages, and contrade suggests we're witnessing something significant—a white wine variety hitting its stride on the world stage. I wouldn’t be surprised if the mountain’s future mirrors that of Burgundy, where white and red varieties soon share equal prestige at the very top of the quality pyramid.  Nerello Mascalese may already be in the spotlight, but its long-overlooked counterpart, Carricante, is clearly ready for its own starring role. In Carricante, Sicily has a white wine that captures not just the taste of place, but its very essence—mineral, marine, and magnificent.

Some recommended producers

Just the Facts

Under Etna DOC regulations, Etna Bianco must include a minimum of 60% Carricante, with the remainder typically made up of other non-aromatic local varieties such as Catarratto and Minella. As the region moves toward DOCG status, the required percentage of Carricante is expected to increase. Many examples come from ancient, co-planted vineyards where Carricante far exceeds the legal minimum; newer plantings are often 100% Carricante. Etna Bianco Superiore, produced exclusively on the eastern slopes in and around the commune of Milo, benefits from cooler, cloudier conditions and maritime influence, and must contain at least 80% Carricante. The DOC’s production zone is also subject to altitude delimitations—generally between 400 m and 1,000 m above sea level—but the exact caps vary by contrada. Some top out at just 600 m, while others reach the full 1,000 m limit. On the northern side, the maximum elevation is set at 800 m, whereas the southern and eastern slopes typically extend to 1,000 m. This lower ceiling in the north means that fruit from higher-elevation vineyards there cannot qualify for Etna DOC and is often bottled under Terre Siciliane IGT instead.