Wine Tastings, Winery Visits and Wine Tours in Sicily

Wine tasting in Sicily: which wine regions and wineries to visit

You can go wine tasting all over Sicily: in the west around Trapani and Marsala, about an hour and a half from Palermo; in the east on Etna; in the south-east in the Val di Noto; and in the north-east around Messina and the Aeolian Islands. This page lists more than 250 wine tastings and winery visits at more than 100 wineries, and more than a third of the experiences are on Etna. More than two in three last one to two hours, usually with 3 or 4 wines, and guests have left more than 400 reviews on Winedering.

Which Sicily wineries are worth visiting?

Away from Etna, among the most booked on Winedering in the last two years, one per province:

• Fausta Mansio, in the hills just outside Siracusa: a small family winery that shows you its vineyard and local grapes, then pours its wines with local food.
• Armosa, in Scicli: unfiltered natural wines, a skin-contact Moscato and 3 Nero d'Avola wines from different vineyards, from sand by the sea to marl hills, then grappa and 2 olive oils.
• Donna Franca, in Marsala: the winery at sunset, with a sea view, then a Grillo, a Syrah rosé and a Nero d'Avola with Sicilian cheese and cured meats.
• Abbazia Santa Anastasia, in Castelbuono, in the Madonie, half an hour from Cefalù: 4 organic wines chosen by the sommelier, with Madonie cured meats and cheese.

More than 40 experiences include a winery lunch: almost 20 on Etna, the rest mostly in the Val di Noto and around Trapani. In Noto, Tenuta La Favola pairs 5 wines, one per course, with a light lunch. In Vittoria, Tenuta Bastonaca serves a Ragusa-style lunch with 5 of its wines, from the starter board to cannoli. In Marsala, Donna Franca serves busiate pasta with Trapani pesto and alla Norma, with 3 wines including a late-harvest Zibibbo.

What wine is Sicily known for, and where can you taste it?

Sicily is known for Nero d'Avola, Frappato, Grillo and Catarratto, its most planted white grape, and for Marsala. Two sweet wines come from the smaller islands: Malvasia delle Lipari and Passito di Pantelleria, from Zibibbo grown as low bush vines, a practice on UNESCO's intangible heritage list since 2014. The island's only DOCG is Cerasuolo di Vittoria. Each area has its own:

• Marsala and the province of Trapani: Marsala, the fortified wine, and whites from Grillo and Catarratto. The province has more than 60 experiences, almost 20 in Marsala alone and more than 10 around Trapani and Erice.
• Alcamo Hills and Belice Valley: Catarratto whites around Alcamo, between Trapani and Palermo; further south, wineries between Salaparuta and Sambuca di Sicilia.
• Province of Palermo: about 30 experiences, from the Monreale DOC to the Madonie.
• Etna: Nerello Mascalese and Carricante, on its own page.
• Val di Noto: more than 35 experiences. Around Siracusa, Noto and Pachino you taste mostly Nero d'Avola; around Vittoria, Cerasuolo, from Nero d'Avola and Frappato. At Santa Tresa, in Vittoria, the 4 organic wines include a Frappato and a Cerasuolo.
• Valley of the Temples: more than 10 experiences between Agrigento and Licata.
• Aeolian Islands: in Quattropani, on Lipari, Tenuta di Castellaro pours Malvasia and Corinto Nero, two native Aeolian grapes, with food from its bistro.
• Messina: Faro DOC, a red made only within the municipality of Messina from Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio and Nocera. At Cantine Bonfiglio you taste it with a rosé, indoors or on a terrace among the vines.

Can you take a wine tour in Sicily from Palermo, Catania or Taormina?

Yes: this page also has about 30 wine tours. About half go up Etna from Taormina or Catania; the others leave mostly from Palermo, Trapani and Siracusa. A third visit two or three wineries; most others pair a single tasting with sightseeing: Etna's craters; the salt pans and a boat to Motya; Segesta and Erice; Baroque Noto; or Cefalù and Castelbuono. At Baglio di Pianetto, in Santa Cristina Gela, about 25 km from Palermo, you choose 4 single-varietal wines from its high-altitude vineyards, from Catarratto to Nero d'Avola.

When is the best time for wine tasting in Sicily?

From May to October: on Winedering these months bring more than two in three bookings, and October is the busiest. Sicily's harvest lasts about a hundred days, from late July in the west to October or early November on Etna. The Movimento Turismo del Vino, Italy's wine tourism association, opens its member wineries for Cantine Aperte on the last weekend of May, and in Sicily its Calici di Stelle evenings run from late July into August. Many of these tastings can also be given as a gift: whoever receives the voucher picks the date.