The Etna Rosso wines, built primarily around Nerello Mascalese with a splash of Nerello Cappuccio, ages more like Nebbiolo or Pinot Noir than a typical southern Italian red. Its pale colour and firm tannin-acid backbone are deceptive – the wines have real structure beneath a fragile-looking surface. Young Etna Rosso shows red cherry, wild strawberry, and volcanic basaltic minerality, often with a smoky, ashy edge from the soil. Over 8–15 years, the fruit shifts toward dried cherry, orange peel, and forest floor, while tannins soften and the wine gains a translucent, garnet hue. High-altitude vineyards and old, ungrafted vines (many over a century old, planted on their own volcanic roots) tend to produce the most age-worthy examples, with the acidity of the terrain acting as a natural preservative.

Etna Bianco, dominated by Carricante, is one of Italy’s most underrated ageable whites. Young versions can seem austere, showing citrus, green apple, and saline minerality, but within 5 to 10 years, they develop a honeyed, waxy, almost Chablis-like complexity, retaining remarkable freshness thanks to their high natural acidity and elevation-driven diurnal swings. This ability to age gracefully sets Etna Bianco apart from most Sicilian whites, which are typically made for early drinking.

The Benanti Winery, one of the estates most responsible for reviving Etna’s reputation in the 1990s, makes a strong case study for this longevity. Their single-vineyard wines: Rovittello and Serra della Contessa for Rosso, and Pietramarina for Bianco – are built specifically with cellaring in mind. Pietramarina in particular is renowned for improving for well over a decade, its Carricante freshness gaining an added texture and nutty depth while never losing its volcanic edge. Tasting older Benanti vintages reveals wines that don’t just survive time but are transformed by it, proof that Etna’s mountain terroir, more than any winemaking trickery, is the true source of its ageability.

Benanti Archive Vintage Notes:

Benanti Etna Bianco 2020, 12% Abv.

Bold and taut with an expressive maritime salinity, savoury flor style salty aromatics, crunchy green pears and yellow apples. The palate show lovely concentration and richness, piquant basaltic spice and herby sweet sour intensity. Lovely depth with a long, seductively white peach finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Bianco 2019, 12% Abv.

Quite a taut, mineral aromatic profile with citrus peel, white blossom and maritime sea breeze salinity. The palate is bright, crisp and steamy, erring on the leaner, more linear style of Carricante.

(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Bianco 2017, 12.5% Abv.

Fragrant lifted, perfumed nose with bold notes of crunchy green pear, green apple pastille, chamomile tea and flinty, mineral, white peach notes. The creamy textured palate has bright acidity, pithy tart green apple and unripe orange peel spice notes. Lovely balance with a fine mellow mineral complexity.

(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti ‘Contrada Rinazzo’ 2022 Etna Bianco Superiore, 12% Abv. 

From bush trained Carricante vines planted at 800 metres. Fermentation and ageing all in stainless steel using indigenous yeasts. The aromatics are sweet fruited and piercing, boasting honey suckle, Wriggleys bubblegum, green apple, yellow stone fruits and hints of wet straw. The palate is dry and pithy, the acidity bright and steely, structured, taut and beautifully linear and saline with hints of oyster shell and basalt. The finish is crystalline and pure, beautifully balanced and harmonious with focus and intensity.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Contrada Rinazzo 2021 Etna Bianco Superiore, 12.5% Abv.

Lovely savoury aromatics with hints of wet basalt, oat meal, lemon pith, oyster shell, crushed gravel, dried kelp and sea breeze nuances. Vibrant, mineral and rasping, there’s a brightness, freshness and energy over a restrained, briney wet stone, mineral bitter lemon, quinine persistence that leads you to a long, maritime-tinged finish. Classical and classy.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Contrada Rinazzo 2018 Etna Bianco Superiore, 12% Abv.

From the village of Milo, which allows it the Superiore designation, this is made in stainless steel fermented with propagated indigenous yeasts from their vineyards, left on lees for 12 months with stirring followed by an additional 6 months in bottle. The nose displays notes of yellow orchard fruits, an oxidative leesy salinity and a honey suckle, “sun wine” savoury character. More breath and textural depth of restrained fruit weight too than the straight Bianco but finished bone dry with a twang of rock salt. Very young but should develop beautifully.

(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Vertical tasting of Benanti Etna Bianco Superiore ‘Pietra Marina’:

Wines from the unique site of Milo located on the eastern slopes of Etna at 800 metres of altitude. 

Benanti Etna Bianco Superiore ‘Pietra Marina’ 2020, 12.5% Abv.

A beautifully aromatic white with intricate notes of white flowers, freshly sliced pear, delicately savoury lees, lemon biscuits and plenty of the discreet, telltale saline basaltic minerality. Spending circa 30 months on lees, the palate is weightless and pure, intense and saline with subtle bitter lemon, sea breeze and an oyster shell finish. A quietly spoken wine that really shows an understated authority and intensity. Superb finesse. 

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Bianco Superiore ‘Pietra Marina’ 2019, 12.5% Abv.

More pithy, lifted and citrus driven with an incredibly harmonious aromatic array of yellow grape fruit,  leesy biscuit, basalt, white pear and sea breeze nuances. Such elegance and poise, this is a truly complex and intricate white with plenty of interest, minerality but also intense pithy citrus, bitter lemon intensity. Beautifully volcanic, salty and stony, but with a balancing dry fruit extract. Simply astonishing how complete and characterful this wine is. A seafood paring dream.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Bianco Superiore ‘Pietra Marina’ 2015, 12.5% Abv.

First vintage produced was 1990. The wine spends 24 months on its fine lees in stainless steel followed by 12 month ageing in bottle. Grapes are sourced from the best and oldest vines in the commune of Milo and forms part of the tiny quantity of Superiore Blanco produced on Etna.

Wonderfully complex nose of crushed basalt, struck match and reductive smokey mineral notes. There are underlying notes of sweet pear, lemon herbal tea and boxwood spice and rock salt. Palate is steely and taught, bright and tart with complexing notes of fresh fennel, white peach, and citrus blossom, finishing with a most intense rocky, liquid minerality and maritime salinity. Very young but shows immense potential.

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Bianco Superiore ‘Pietra Marina’ 2011, 12.5% Abv.

With just a bit of tertiary age characters, the bouquet shows lovely notes of bruised white peaches, old honey, leesy spice, chamomile tea, white citrus, pomace stone and hints of diesel-fuel. The savoury note carries to the palate buoyed by intense liquid minerality, pear purée, bruised waxy apples and a sensation of sucking on wet river pebbles. The finish remains tart and fresh with a pronounced maritime influence.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Bianco Superiore ‘Pietra Marina’ 2001, 13% Abv. 

Golden pale honey yellow, the nose show rich oxidative tertiary development with nuances of bruised peaches, meal biscuits, savoury white citrus and piquant aged, Riesling-like characters of diesel rag. The palate retains its bright acidity and liquid mineral mouthfeel with brine, resinous sappy spice and yellow apples on the finish. Earthy, volcanic and savoury, this is a complex mouthful.

(Wine Safari Score: 91/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti ‘Contrada Cavaliere’ 2022 Etna Bianco, 12% Abv. 

Made from 100% Carricante, the aromatics show a sophisticated mix of white flowers, yellow citrus and white pear fruits with a pronounced undertone of basaltic volcanic minerality. The fruits are saline and pithy with herbal wet river stone minerality, green apple and delicate herb infused pear drop fruit nuances. Sleek crystalline texture, delicate weightless concentration and a salty maritime finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Red Archive Vintages:

Benanti Nerello Cappuccio ‘Contrada Cavaliere’ 2016, 13.5% Abv.

A fine pure rendition of this rare Sicilian variety. Bottled unblended as an IGT label, it shows an attractive stainless steel expression with deliciously pure aromatics of bramble berry, black currant, sappy flinty spice and earthy reductive complexity. Tightly wound, there are juicy berry flavours of stewed strawberry, creamy mineral tannins and supple notes of liquorice, salty black cherry and graphite on the finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Rosso 2016, 13.5% Abv.

A traditional blend of Nerello Mascalese sand Nerello Cappuccio, the nose is perfumed and penetrating with sweet Fraisse des Bois, bramble berries and savoury red plum. Finely poised, creamy dry mineral tannins and a harmonious, bright, fresh red berry and basalt rock finish. Lovely concentration and length.

(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Rosso ‘Contrada Monte Serra’ 2016, 14.5% Abv.

Another fine Etna blend, the aromatics show more depth, power, minerality and also potpourri and red strawberry and red cherry fruit concentration. The palate is supple and fleshy with a deliciously alluring flavour spectrum of saline cassis fruit twinned with bright acids and linear, savoury tart plum and a red bramble berry finish. Really complex and already deliciously accessible but with age worthy aspirations.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti ‘Contrada Cavaliere’ 2017 Etna Rosso, 14.5% Abv. 

100% Nerello Mascalese from 50 year old vines (permitted by the DOC since 2012) shows an intense, perfumed, savoury tinged aromatics of sun dried cranberries, ripe red cherry, and almost Nebbiolo like aromatics of tar and roses. Palate is cool and creamy with pronounced crushed stone minerality, cherry skins, sandy tannins and a long bramble berry finish with attractive botanical vermouth notes.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti ‘Contrada Cavaliere’ 2021 Etna Rosso, 14.5% Abv. 

Intense and fragrant in the glass, the aromatics show richer, riper notes of red and black bramble berry fruits, strawberry compote, orange rind and subtle sweet vermouth botanical spices. On the palate the extra flesh and weight is evident, coating the mouth with sweet pithy red plum, red currant and spicy basaltic mineral tannins. Deliciously accessible and sweet fruited, the structure is preserved with vibrant acids and a drying stony minerality on the finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Vertical tasting of Benanti Etna Rosso Cru ‘Rovittello’: (single vineyard)

Rovittello is the name of the vineyard on the northern slopes of Etna comprising of a natural field blend of 95% Nerello Mascalese and 5% Nerello Capuccio. 

Benanti Etna Rosso Cru ‘Rovittello’ 2014, 13.5% Abv.

28 to 24 months in large oak barrels with at least 12 months ageing in bottle. Already beautifully perfumed and expressive, with violets, cherry blossom, saline cassis, sappy spice and dusty red cherry and graphite spice. The purity of the fruit shines on the palate with crystalline notes of sweet cherry, forest fruits, Pinot Noir nuances, mineral herbal grip and sappy, stalky Dujac’esque complexity. Bright pure acids, deliciously concentrated fruits and tantalising macerated strawberry finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Rosso Cru ‘Rovittello’ 2011, 14% Abv. 

Slightly darker, bloodier nose with layers of black salty licorice, salty cassis, sweet red bramble berries and savoury macerated strawberries. The palate is soft, plump and harmonious, quite mellow and spicy but with dusty powdery tannins, dry chalky grip, layered with sweet cherry fruits, tart bramble berries and a graphite and liquid mineral tension on the finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Rosso Cru ‘Rovittello’ 2001, 14% Abv. 

A fine garnet red colour, the nose shows pronounced tertiary savoury notes of wood spice, tannery leather, polished mahogany and sweet orange wine punch. Cool, spicy creamy textured palate, there is super juicy acids, bright tart sweet / sour cherry fruit notes, an element of linearity and a salty, dry, graphitey, grippy red liquorice finish. Delicious.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Vertical tasting of Benanti Etna Rosso ‘Serra della Contessa’:

(Single vineyard old vine plot in Monte Serra)

90% Nerello Mascalese and 10% Nerello Cappuccio from 110 year old ungrafted vines on the south eastern slopes of Etna. Matured for 18 to 24 months in large oak barrels, none new, from France and Slavonia. Stays 12 months in bottle before release. First vintage was 1998. 

Benanti Etna Rosso ‘Serra della Contessa’ 2014, 13.5% Abv.

Bright tart lifted, energetic nose with intense notes of red cherry, dried rose petals, potpourri, saline cassis and sweet red apples. Palate shows a marvellous Burgundy meets Piedmont character with linear, taut black berry fruits, sweet forestry red berry intensity and a concentrated, plush, powerful, velvet in a silk glove approach. Deliciously fine and regal.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Rosso ‘Serra della Contessa’ 2011, 14% Abv. 

A couple of years extra bottle age lend this Cuvee a real aromatic boost with less of the pretty roses and violet perfume and more savoury blood orange, earthy pomegranate and dried leather complexity. The palate is plush, fleshy and grippy with sweet orange peel, tangerine and sweet savoury red berry earthy notes. Drinking beautifully with a fine balance between fruit freshness and tertiary forestry complexity. Lovely.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Rosso ‘Serra della Contessa’ 2001, 14% Abv. 

An earthy, forestry expression with nuanced tertiary aromas of basalt, sweet grilled herbs, dried orange peel, stewed strawberries, sweet tannery leather. The palate follows with more fleshy sweet herby forest berry fruits, stewed red plums, rosemary and savoury aniseed root complexity. Plenty of power and grip, this is really delicious as it reaches its maturity zenith.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Rovittello Particella No.341 Etna Rosso Riserva Alberello Centenario 2018, Etna Rosso Riserva DOC, 14.5% Abv. 

A beautifully aromatic complexity expressed through volcanic, basaltic notes of limestone, soap stone, gravel and dried flowers with potpourri, sun dried cranberry and cherry fruit hints. Always described as possessing a character that transects Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir, this wine certainly has the spicy, mineral texture of Piemonte with liquorice and tar, roses and dried orange peel, with a voluptuous glycerol old vine depth that goes on and on and on. Wow, this has got to be one of the top 3 wines I’ve ever tasted from Etna. Drink now to 2040+.

(Wine Safari Score: 97+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Next Benanti Press Tasting:

Benanti Brut Carricante 2021 Metodo Classico Spumante, IGT Terre Siciliane, 12% Abv.

24 month Metodo Classico using pure Carricante, made under consultation with a Francia Corta specialist. The aromatics are dusty and stony with a basaltic minerality, notes of pithy pear, peach blossom and honeysuckle. The salinity kicks in on the palate with a briney salty kick, delicious pear and white peach with tart green apple acidity and a pity, phenolic mineral grip. Mouthwatering, delicately sappy, decidedly maritime in feel but also beautifully accomplished with a creamy, explosive mousse. Very impressive.

(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti ‘Contrada Cavaliere’ 2022 Etna Bianco, 12% Abv. 

Released in April 2024. Made from 100% Carricante, the aromatics show a sophisticated mix of white flowers, yellow citrus and white pear fruits with a pronounced undertone of basaltic volcanic minerality. The fruits are saline and pithy with herbal wet river stone minerality, green apple and delicate herb infused pear drop fruit nuances. Sleek crystalline texture, delicate weightless concentration and a salty maritime finish.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti ‘Contrada Rinazzo’ 2022 Etna Bianco Superiore, 12% Abv. 

From bush trained Carricante vines planted at 800 metres. Fermentation and ageing all in stainless steel using indigenous yeasts. The aromatics are sweet fruited and piercing, boasting honey suckle, Wriggleys bubblegum, green apple, yellow stone fruits and hints of wet straw. The palate is dry and pithy, the acidity bright and steely, structured, taut and beautifully linear and saline with hints of oyster shell and basalt. The finish is crystalline and pure, beautifully balanced and harmonious with focus and intensity.

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

(Some Carricante were planted in 2020 and released in 2024)

Benanti ‘Contrada Monte Serra’ Etna Rosso 2022, 14% Abv.

A harmonious offering with a uniquely complex mix of basaltic minerality, dried herbs and delicate pithy, stony notes of red cherry and cranberry spice. Taut, tight and mineral, layered with subtle pithy red berry fruits, fine grained tannins and a long, classical, maritime-tinged finish with just a hint of warmth.

(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Rosso ‘Contrada Monte Serra’ 2021, 14.5% Abv. (Magnum)

Deliciously earthy brambly fragrant aromatics showing notes of succulent sweet cranberries, red plum, pomegranate and blood orange with a delicate sweet 5 spice dusting. The palate is medium bodied and beautifully polished and harmonious with a stony fine grained texture, invigorating red berry acids and a savoury, brambly earthy intensity on the finish with a comforting warmth.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Rosso Riserva Particella No.587 ‘Serra della Contessa’ 2017, Alberella Centenario, 13.5% Abv.

The pure, pristine aromatics are majestically fragrant and perfumed, packed full of candied red cherry, bramble berries, cranberry and delicately dusty, smoky, basaltic, mineral notes. Medium bodied but tight grained and concentrated, the palate complexity is enticingly salty and mineral with a powdery, creamy mid-palate, chalky drying tannins, finishing with  real purity and bright intensity.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Rosso ‘Contrada Dafara Galluzzo’ 2022, 14.5% Abv.

Deep dark broody smoky aromatics, made from younger vine 100% Nerello Mascalese, aged for 12 months in French Tonneau. The aromatics are dense, dark fruited and fully loaded with phenolic red and black berries, dried flowers, plum confit, liquid minerality and tarry, tangy, black cherry confit note on the finish. Plenty of intense fruit concentration, smoky mineral black berries and a delicately chewy, drying grippy saline finish. Powerful, complex but mouth watering. 

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Etna Rosso Riserva Particella No.341 ‘Rovittello’ 2017, Alberella Centenario, 14% Abv. (Magnum)

A taut, linear expression boasting aromatic layers of perfumed white blossom, pink musk, red berries, saline black currant and black liquorice stick. The palate texture is taut but beautifully polished, tight grained and mineral but with an airy, ethereal crystalline weight and purity, finishing with a picante, mineral, basaltic persistence. This has the weightless concentration of  young Grand Cru Burgundy with a taut, wound spring tension that ties it all together beautifully.

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti ‘Contrada Calderara Sottana’ 2021 Etna Rosso, 14.5% Abv. (Magnum)

An incredibly complex and intricate aromatics in the glass bursting with cranberries, sweet red plum crystallised red cherry and red apple. The basaltic minerality vein runs comfortably through the palate showing incredibly sleek, silky stony tannins, wet stone minerality and a pithy, red cherry and cranberry finish. All the complicated volcanic minerality distilled into a superb, accessible package. Really very fine. 

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti ‘Contrada Monte Serra’ Etna Rosso 2020, 13.5% Abv. 

A complex aromatics of bramble berry notes over strawberry, cranberry and defined hints of truffle and mushrooms. The palate is crystalline, pure and incredibly focused and precise with chalky, basaltic red cherry, cranberry and sour red plum. Really classy, mineral and harmonious. 

(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti ‘Contrada Serra della Contessa’ Etna Rosso Riserva 2017, 14% Abv. 

This is an incredibly rich, intense powerful wine with seductive, expressive aromatics of sweet liquorice, tar, saline black plum, and pithy black cherry. The palate is silky and seamless but also beautifully chalky and textured with dry extract, glycerol black cherry, fleshy jammy black berry and a delicately spicy, kelpy, compote saline finish. 

(Wine Safari Score: 96+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Benanti Nerello Cappuccio (Contrada Cavaliere) 2020, IGT Terre Siciliane Rosso, 13.5% Abv.

A pure rendition of this rare Sicilian variety. Bottled unblended under an IGT label at Etna Rosso is reserved for Nerello Mascalese, it shows an attractive stainless steel purity with notes of savoury black berries, sappy bramble fruits, milk chocolate and raspberry compote. Bright and crunchy in the mouth, there’s a lifted cedar spice, led pencil peppery note with chalky mineral grippy tannins, a medium bodied weighting and a cool, cherry cola tinged finish kissed with a resinous nuance. Subtle rusticity done very well. 

(Wine Safari Score: 92/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Benanti Wines are imported exclusively into the UK by Woodwinters. Contact: Andrew@woodwinters.com for pricing and allocations.