Introduction to Island Wines of Italy
A guide to the wines of Italy's islands: Sicily, Sardinia, Pantelleria, Elba and the Aeolians, with key zones, grapes, bottles to try and food pairings.
Italy's islands are some of the most exciting and least known wine areas in the Mediterranean. The sea surrounds them, volcanoes shaped many of them, and old grape varieties grew up there in near isolation. Their wines have a strong character: salty, mineral and sun-ripened, with a clear sense of place.
Sicily and Sardinia are Italy's two great wine islands. Each has a wine culture as rich as any mainland region. The smaller islands (Pantelleria, Elba and the Aeolians) make rare, one-of-a-kind wines that are worth seeking out.
Sicily has made wine for 3,000 years, since the Greeks settled there. Today it is one of Italy's most lively wine regions. It was long known for bulk wine. Over the past 30 years it has turned to quality, helped by investment, research into local grapes and a new generation of keen producers.
Etna DOC: Europe's most dramatic wine zone, on the slopes of an active volcano. Nerello Mascalese makes elegant reds that age well. Carricante makes mineral whites.
Terre Siciliane IGT (formerly Sicilia IGT): This broad IGT covers the whole island. It includes everything from Nero d'Avola to Catarratto and gives producers the freedom to try new things.
Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG: Sicily's only DOCG, in the southeast. It blends Nero d'Avola with Frappato for a fresh, elegant red.
Marsala and Pantelleria DOC: These are Sicily's fortified and dried-grape wines. The most famous is the sweet Passito di Pantelleria, made from Zibibbo. They are ancient winemaking at its most intense.
Sardinia is Italy's second-largest island. Its old, pre-Phoenician grape varieties are often found nowhere else on earth, and they make wines with real character. Sardinian winemaking is proudly independent, shaped by thousands of years of isolation.
Vermentino di Gallura DOCG: Sardinia's only DOCG, on the granite soils of the north. It makes full-bodied, mineral whites.
Cannonau di Sardegna DOC: Cannonau is the Sardinian name for Grenache. Here it makes firmer, longer-lived wines than it does elsewhere.
Vermentino di Sardegna DOC: The white wine DOC for the whole island. It offers fresh, citrusy Vermentino at great value.
Pantelleria is a volcanic island off Sicily, near Tunisia. Its native grape is Zibibbo (Muscat of Alexandria). The vines are grown as low bushes in hollows dug into the ground to shelter them from the wind. This is called "alberello pantesco". The grapes are dried in the sun to make Passito di Pantelleria, one of Italy's most famous dessert wines. It is very sweet and complex, with notes of apricot, honey and Mediterranean herbs.
Elba, in the Tuscan Archipelago, is best known as the island of Napoleon's first exile. It makes charming wines from Sangiovese for reds and Vermentino for whites. Its wines include dry styles and the rare sweet Aleatico, made from the Aleatico grape. Very little is made, and the wines rarely leave the island.
The volcanic Aeolian (Lipari) islands lie north of Sicily. They make one of Italy's rarest wines: Malvasia delle Lipari. Malvasia grapes are dried in the sun on windswept terraces on Lipari and Salina. The result is a sweet, amber wine with scents of apricot, orange peel and honey.
See the full range of Sicily wines and Sardinia wines in our regional guides.
Production rules and official information from the consortia of the wines in this guide: