It is a near-cloudless day on Etna’s northern slopes, and that energy is palpable: White plumes of smoke rise from the volcano’s peak more than a mile-and-a-half above us; a crystalline morning light shines on vineyard plateaus that have been carved into a rugged landscape sculpted by eruptions.
“In Italy, now, this is the most exciting place for the future,” says Rosso, who in July finalized the purchase of a small estate with more than 13 acres of decades-old vines. He will bring in his first Etna harvest next month. “The frontier is here.”
In the past 15 years, the vineyards on the flanks of Europe’s largest active volcano have risen from obscurity to among Italy’s most prized, attracting dozens of winemakers from across Sicily to Tuscany, Europe and Australia.
Vini di Sicilia 