Etna’s wine scene is erupting...

La Nave is a high plain that sits at 1,100m on the north-western slope of Mount Etna in Sicily. Some locals say the name – “ship” in Italian – comes from its shape, stretching like a prow towards the island’s interior. Others claim it was christened by boatbuilders for the Duke of Bronte, alias Admiral Lord Nelson, who supposedly sourced timber from its chestnut forests for his fleet. Whatever the true history, where La Nave’s tall trees once stood today there’s a vineyard – a single hectare of ungrafted and very rare Grecanico Dorato and Albanello vines, some of them as much as two centuries old.

Extreme viticulture: this is how Santa Maria La Nave’s Sicilian proprietors, Riccardo Mulone and Sonia Spadaro Mulone, describe the adventure in volcanic winemaking they embarked on here in 2013. The project involves history, mystery, ecology and a near-maniacal dedication to conservation of old-growth vines. In addition to this tiny vineyard at La Nave, called Casa Decima, there is a second one located at Monte Ilice, one of several inactive cones on Etna’s eastern flank. Santa Maria La Nave produces a maximum of 10,000 bottles annually, consisting almost entirely of two wines: Millesulmare, a Grecanico Dorato cru from Casa Decima; and Calmarossa, an Etna Rosso blend from Monte Ilice. Each year this is acquired by a small coterie of collectors and restaurateurs, much of it already promised en primeur; Millesulmare is a perennial on the list at Langosteria, Enrico Buonacore’s Milanese power-dining destination.

“What’s interesting about them is the obsessive research of piè franco [European rootstock], common on Etna due to the volcanic soil, but not necessarily a priority for other winemakers, and their use of Grecanico Dorato and Albanello, which are almost extinct,” says Marco Lami, a consultant and sommelier who created the wine programmes at the Four Seasons Il Palagio and Cibrèo, in Florence. “And, of course, the altitude”: Grecanico Dorato is known to thrive best when planted above 1,000m.

“Sonia’s wines – in particular her whites – are such a reflection of her own purity and search for perfection,” adds Jon Moslet, a wine collector and co-owner of Rocca delle Tre Contrade, the private Etna estate with a world-class cellar where Skye Gyngell and Merlin Labron-Johnson, among others, have led culinary retreats. “She now represents a new young generation on Etna:  alchemists trying to capture the wild energy of the volcano and perfecting – or aiming to control – the transformation of rock into liquid gold.”

Sicilian born and raised, the Mulones live between Etna and Milan. Riccardo, 51, is the Italy country director for UBS bank; Sonia, 39, is Santa Maria La Nave’s main owner and runs the show. She has been the winemaker since she took on the business, shortly after she and Riccardo married; she began experimenting up at Casa Decima, which Riccardo and his father had purchased a decade earlier (both properties, like the business, are now fully owned by her). The vines, long abandoned and overrun by brambles, had been uncovered and resuscitated. In those early years, taking small quantities of grapes to the canteen of pioneering Etna winery Giuseppe Benanti for production, she befriended one of its oenologists, Enzo Calì. Calì eventually invited Benanti himself to sample her 2014 vintage of Millesulmare. “He said it was one of the best wines on Etna,” Spadaro Mulone tells me, flushing with a blend of pride and embarrassment.

We are at Monte Ilice, climbing a steep path between rows wreathed in the fresh green of early summer. They are predominantly Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio, common red grapes here; minuscule bunches that will eventually turn a rich purple are just beginning to peek out from under leaves. At our backs, 900m below us, is the Mediterranean, blurred in haze; ahead of us is an old palmento, a traditional Etna farmhouse that the Mulones are restoring as an experience and tasting centre – an extension of the large, sleek new canteen that has just been completed onsite.

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“I really wanted to find another historic vineyard,” she says of Monte Ilice. “We had Casa Decima, and were making Millesulmare. I wanted to do something with that same fil rouge of history and heritage but with a red wine. Monte Ilice was owned by this wonderful farmer, Don Alfio. He had divided it into 11 parcel-like strips, one intended for each of his 11 nephews.” Reconstituting the property was a delicate process, she says; likewise, developing land that’s inside the protected Etna national park.

But the value was clear, justifying the time and effort. “These here are old, old vines – some of them are 170 to 180 years old,” she says as we veer off into a sparser section of the vineyard. “Vitigni reliquia, we call them.” She stoops to indicate classification labels that students from the University in Catania have attached here and there: Lucido, Inzolia, Madama Bianca, Terribile (“because it was somehow a bit more resistant to the phylloxera infestation”). 

Spadaro Mulone is part of a newer generation of makers – and one of a handful of women – working in and around  Sicily’s oldest denomination: Etna DOC, created in 1968. Etna is like no other wine region in Europe: its borders range from 400m to 1,000m, depending on whereabouts on the volcano you’re standing. The differences in soil composition from one contrada to another can be huge; likewise, the thermal vagaries (Etna gets more rainfall than the rest of the island – anecdotally as much as six times the average Sicily-wide – is snow-capped in winter, and often bakes in the 30s in July and August).

But its cachet has grown by leaps and bounds. Founding fathers such as Benanti and Cantine Murgo are these days kept company by Italian powerhouses: among them are the Sicilian Tasca d’Almerita and Planeta families, the late, great Tuscan superstar Andrea Franchetti; Angelo Gaja, who partnered with Alberto Graci on Etna in 2016. Nor is Spadaro Mulone the only one making exceptional wines outside the confines of the DOC; here, as in a handful of Italian regions, aficionados know to look at the producer, not the borders, for quality indication.

Then there’s the volcano itself. In early July, a days-long eruption spewed lava a thousand metres skyward from Voragine crater, and tonnes of ash settled across Etna’s south and eastern flanks. “Fortunately for us, the flow didn’t go in our direction,” says Spadaro Mulone. “And actually there’s an upside in that there’s a huge quantity of new, fresh minerals on the vines. The downside, of course, was that the airport closure [at Catania] meant tourists weren’t able to reach parts of the island, including us.” She’s referring to the new canteen at Monte Ilice, complete with its organic native roof garden, the palmento and another historic farmhouse for private tastings and dinners, and an extraordinary mural along one long lava‑stone wall, depicting the full spectrum of biodiversity on Etna, which she commissioned the Peruvian artist and eco-activist Zelva to create.

But she’s also talking about Casa Decima, up at La Nave, where the Mulones have introduced another thoughtful permutation of hospitality. To reach it from Monte Ilice, we drive for 45 minutes around the northern perimeter of the volcano, passing through towns with tongue-confounding names – Passopisciaro, Linguaglossa, Murazzorotto – as we ascend to 1,100m. After a winding final climb, past profusions of astracantha and soapwort and swaths of bright yellow broom, a quick turn down a dirt drive opens onto Casa Decima: breathtaking vista, tiny vineyard, some terraced olives, abundant wildflower fields and a small, elegant, modern cottage.

Inside is Lucia, known for miles around both for the excellence of her cooking and for her encyclopedic knowledge of traditional recipes and all things edible on Etna. A long table is beautifully set with local ceramics; menus written on parchment are rolled and tied with olive and rosemary sprigs. We graze on a moreish aperitivo of salumi, crochette on a bed of nutty pesto and chickpea-flour flatbread, served with a 2016 vintage of Tempesta, a limited-edition sparkling white with the barest hint of dosage, made from a tiny parcel of Casa Decima vines just visible through the picture-pane windows. Then a four-course degustation. Dish after dish arrives: a pillowy, delicately smoky aubergine parmigiana; a pasta alla norma on herbed ricotta with a crown of crispy breadcrumbs; involtini di carne studded with grape leaves. We drink a 2014 Millesulmare, Spadaro Mulone’s first vintage, then a 2021, then the Calmarossa – clean, mineral, with subtle red fruits, vaguely mossy.

The experience is considered and honest, true to the land it’s held on and the winemaker hosting it: Etna, elevated. Outside, the old vines flare green in fugitive sunlight, preparing to turn to gold. 

Maria Shollenbarger stayed as a guest of Zash Country Boutique Hotel (zash.it). Visit santamarialanave.com for information on private tastings and hospitality experiences

More volcanic vines

Jon Moslet, part-time Etna resident and owner of Rocca delle Tre contrade, nominates four other female winemakers to know

Sonia Gambino, Gustinella

Born in Milan, Gambino completed her oenology degree unaware that her grandfather once ran the communal wine cellar in the Etna town of Maletto. She sought refuge there during the pandemic, endearing herself to the town’s older generation. Now on her fourth harvest, she produces exclusively from vines growing between 1,100m and 1,300m, preserving the scattered vineyards of Maletto and the peasant tradition of blending white and red grapes, giving rise to her light, drinkable wines. Gustinella Jungìmmune Bianco, €42, gustinella.it

Silvia Maestrelli (1967–2022), Tenuta di Fessina

There’s no talking about women winemakers on Etna without celebrating the first. Florence born, Milanese by adoption, Maestrelli’s coup de foudre on first seeing the volcano in 2006 with her husband Roberto Silva was fast and complete; they inaugurated Tenuta di Fessina on Etna’s north-east face a year later, producing highly regarded, elegant blends. She went on to pioneer agriturismo hospitality in the area as well. tenutadifessina.com

Alice Bonaccorsi, Valcerasa

Bonaccorsi was inspired by the inheritance of a small plot of land on Etna to put into practice her belief that the soil, altitude and climate of the volcano offer exceptional conditions for obtaining healthy grapes without human meddling. Expanding from what she refers to as the “central mother vineyard” with pre-phylloxera plants, she pioneered low-intervention winemaking on Etna. Her wines were served in hipster New York eateries well before the Etna wine scene erupted. Valcerasa Etna Rosso 2019, €25, valcerasa.it

Anna Martens, Vino di Anna

Martens, a trained oenologist originally from Australia, and her husband Eric Narioo (CEO of UK wine importer Les Caves de Pyrene) pursue honesty and purity in their wines above all else. This is evident the minute you set foot in their small winery at the heart of the north-facing slopes of Etna, where Georgian clay vessels are buried in the ground and chestnut-wood barrels filled with experimental blends line the walls. vinodianna.com