The Wine Pair Podcast

Italian Wine Adventure #22: Etna Bianco!

• The Wine Pair • Season 1 • Episode 200

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Wow! That’s about all we can say about this zippy, electric, and super tasty white wine from the slopes of Mt. Etna. Etna Bianco is a white wine lover’s dream. Great with food, great without food, and so good we describe this wine as dangerous. And to think that this was a wine that almost went extinct! Like its sister wine Etna Rosso, Etna Bianco comes from a long history or winemaking in Sicily that dates back to at least the Greeks, but in the 20th century, a reputation for cheap bulk wines and migration away from farmlands and to cities of industry almost completely eradicated commercial winemaking on Mt. Etna. But thanks to brave winemakers, in the last 30 years Mt. Etna wines have come roaring back. Etna Bianco needs to be on your wine list, and it is fantastic with seafood, and we will tell you why - so please join us! And learn about why you don’t have to cry when you macerate. It’s a long story. Wines reviewed in this episode: 2023 Murgo Etna Bianco, 2024 Nicosia Etna Bianco Lenza di Munti.

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Show Notes

Episode #200: Italian Wine Adventure #22: Etna Bianco!  00:00

Hello fellow Wine Wonderers! And welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime, Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair!

If you are new to our podcast, here is what you can expect. If you love wine and want to find great wines at affordable prices, and you want to expand your wine horizons, and you want to have some laughs and fun while doing it - then you are in the right place! Each week we explore a different wine varietal, style, brand, or region of the winemaking world, and learn about what makes them worth knowing about. And then we taste 2-3 of those wines that are reasonably priced to let you know if they are worth your hard earned money. If that feels like your vibe, then, wine wonderer, welcome to our tribe. And, we are proud to say that Decanter Magazine calls us fun, irreverent, chatty, and entertaining.

I may have to update that intro because now we have a new review from Ear Worthy who calls us a show that makes wine approachable, funny, and honest. And that’s pretty nice, too!

Carmela, I am a little hesitant to tell you this, but this is officially our 200th regular-sized episode. Now, you can hem and haw on what counts as a full-sized episode, and we have certainly released more than 200 episodes in total if you count things like mini-sodes, but you know what, at some point you just have to put a stake in the ground and say here we are. So, here we are. In 2026, we made it to our 200th episode without killing each other! How about that!

For this 200th episode, we are going to do part two of the topic we started last week on wines from the Mt. Etna wine region of Sicily. Last week, we learned about and tasted Etna Rosso, and this week, we are going to learn about and taste the wine Etna Bianco. As you may have guessed by now, Etna Rosso is red wine - Rosso meaning red in Italian - and Etna Bianco is white wine - Bianco meaning white in Italian. The grapes in Etna Bianco are not household names, but are becoming well known for making wonderful, interesting, and complex wines - and the most important of those, and the grape you need to know, is Carricante.

We’ll talk more about Carricante in a bit, but to give you a sense of the grape and the wine it makes, I’ll just say that Carricante is kind of the star white grape from Mount Etna in Sicily, and some say it is the perfect antidote to heavy white wines. It is sometimes described as zippy and because of its acidity, and it is often noted for having a saline or seawater taste to it, which comes from the volcanic soil it grows in. If you typically enjoy a crisp Chablis or a dry Riesling like we do, this may be a great wine to try.

But before we get to Etna Bianco and Carricante, we need to hear about the great name for the tribe that Clarice came up with this week, so without further ado, let’s head over to our conversation with Clarice!

Interview with listener Clarice who gave us our tribe name this week! 04:40

Clarice was just awesome, and we had so much fun getting to know her. And, as we mentioned last week, when she reached out, she actually went back all the way to July to list out the tribe names and so we have those in our show notes for this episode if you want to see the current list.

And, we really love doing these interviews and putting you on the show, so if you have an idea for a tribe name, just send us a note at joe@thewinepairpodcast.com or send us DM via Instagram and we will see if you want to join us. And, there is no obligation, so you can just send us a tribe name and let us know you are ok not being on the podcast, and we’ll give you a nice shout out!

The list of tribe names from Clarice
Updated with 1/04: Astringents and 1/11: Wine Wonderers
12/21 Vine Times
12/14 Paired Nerds
12/7 Wine Pair Cluster
11/23 Glass Mates
11/16 Vino Veritas
11/2 Wine-o-Philes
10/26 Grand Cru
10/19 Winos
10/12 Vino Virtuosos
10/5 Wine Cru
9/21 Cork Dork Cru
9/14 Grape Nuts
9/7 Wine Homies
8/31 Wine Hounds
8/24 Pair Heads
8/17 Wine Dweebs
8/10 Wine Freaks
7/20 Wine Explorers


Now, Carmela, we need to talk more about Carricante and Etna Bianco, but we are going to have to do that in a few minutes because I have to take you to some breaking news that’s just coming in . . .

Wine in the news this week: The "Wine Terrorists" of the Languedoc 10:14


The wine in the news this week comes to us from Martin Green from Decanter Magazine in his article entitled: Vandals target French wine estate as protests escalate And you can find links to this article and others on the subject in our show notes. 

Carmela, unfortunately, we need to talk about something happening in France right now that is pretty serious. Most of us usually think of winemakers as peaceful farmers and artisans who are focused on their craft and crops and weather forecasts. But in the south of France, there is an underground group that has been operating and creating trouble for decades, and they just struck again. They go by the initials C.A.V. (Comité d'Action Viticole), and they are essentially vigilante winemakers.

Here is the story of what they did if you are ready: In mid-December this group launched a raid on Château La Boutignane in the Corbières region. This wasn't just random vandalism; it was a targeted strike. They broke into the winery at night, used tires and planks to set the warehouse on fire, and then they cracked open the valves on the massive fermentation tanks releasing the wine that was being made. So, this is serious stuff.

They completely drained two tanks of wine and partially emptied two others. We are talking about thousands of liters of wine. Before they ran away, they left their calling card spray-painted on the walls: the letters "C.A.V." and the slogan "Viti en Colère" (which means "Angry Winemakers" in French).

Now, you may ask: Why did they target this specific winery? It wasn't random. Château La Boutignane is owned by Grands Chais de France (GCF). GCF is the second-largest wine producer in the entire country. To the local farmers, this company represents everything wrong with the industry: mass production, corporate consolidation, and globalization that drives down the price of grapes so low that small family farmers can't survive.

This is the C.A.V.’s MO. They aren’t new; they’ve been around since the 1960s and 70s, and they have done things like this in the past: they have bombed government buildings, blown up toll booths, and hijacked tanker trucks on the highway to drain cheap imported Spanish wine onto the highway. They view themselves as a resistance movement fighting for the survival of the French farmer. They believe the government has abandoned them and the big corporations are crushing them, so they use vandalism to get attention.

As of right now, the police have opened an investigation and estimated the damage at around €130,000, but here is the thing: the C.A.V. is notoriously hard to catch. They are locals and so they just blend into the community. There is a code of silence (Omertà) in these villages because even if people don't agree with the actions, they agree with the anger. So, the perpetrators are still out there, and the message has been sent loud and clear: if you are a "Big Wine" corporation, you are a target.
So, a question for you, Carmela,

  • This is obviously vandalism, but do you feel any sympathy for the people in the CAV? Can you understand why they are feeling like victims?

Look, what I would say is protest peacefully, yell and shout because that is important, but if you are moving to violence, that is usually going too far.
Sorry for the serious turn here, because most of the time we are talking about things that are a little less, should we say, political, but this felt like a topic that has resonance right now, whether we are talking about wine or farmers or maybe other things where people might protest because they don’t like what is going on.

But I think we should get back to the subject at hand, which is Etna Bianco, the up-and-coming white wine from the island of Sicily that is starting to get some real attention from wine professionals, and we have two Etna Bianco wines to taste and review to see if they should be added to your wine list . . .

But first . . . we have to do our shameless plug.

Thank you for listening to us and for supporting our show, and remember, we buy all of our own wine so that we can give you real and honest reviews, and we do all of the writing and recording and editing to  bring you a show every week because we love you all, and all we ask you for in return is that you please follow or subscribe to our podcast and also please leave us a nice rating and review  to help us grow our listeners - and a huge thank you to all of you who have done so already!

You can also follow us on Instagram at thewinepairpodcast, and on Bluesky. You can contact us on our website thewinepairpodcast.com, and you can sign up for our email newsletter there and you can also visit our “Shop Wine” section where you can find links to buy the wines that we rate as buys in each episode.  I will also note that on our website, if you are curious about a wine we have covered in the past, we do have a pretty good search functionality, so you can use that find wines you want to know more about.

And we want to make content you care about and you like, so send us a note or DM us and give us some feedback or let us know if there are wines you want us to try or wine making areas of the world you are curious about - and we’ll take care of it!  joe@thewinepairpodcast.com

  • Ear Worthy and Frank Racioppi who put us on his list of the best independent podcasts 2026, and we are of course listed in the food category! https://medium.com/ear-worthy/the-best-independent-podcasts-2026-95e12757b969 
  • Timmy who sent us an idea that I want to run by the tribe - he suggested that listeners could send us bottles of wine from their collections or cellars and see what we think of it - we could do episodes on wine from listeners. If you think that’s an idea you would participate in, let us know!
  • Keep reaching out!


And, as we do every week, we’ll tell you someone we think you should recommend The Wine Pair Podcast to - because the best way for us to grow listeners is when you tell your family and friends about us - and this week, we want you to recommend us to anyone looking for a new white wine, and also anyone who is real White Lotus lover because they may be really interested in learning more about this wine from the foothills of Mount Etna.

RESEARCH ARTICLES AND LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE



Topic: WTF is Etna Bianco? 18:04

Alright, Carmela, let’s get on with part two of our Mt. Etna wine series for this second leg of our Italian Wine Adventure and find out just what the eff Etna Bianco is, what do you say?!?

We mentioned this last week, but winemaking on the island of Sicily and around Mount Etna goes back 1000’s of years. What we didn’t mention last week is that the industry nearly vanished in the late 19th century when phylloxera destroyed 80% of the vines, followed by further abandonment after World War II because many of the workers left the area for better opportunities and because winemaking on the side of a mountain is really, really hard work. 

For a bit of history, while we know that many Italians moved to North and South America before World War II, after WW II many moved to the more industrialized areas of Northern Italy where they could get steady jobs and regular paychecks. That was a bit of an easier transition than leaving the country altogether for many. What this meant for areas in Southern Italy was both a brain-drain and back-drain. By that, I mean that many of the people who knew how to farm the area left, and many of the workers who could cultivate the difficult wine making area also left. Growing grapes in and around Etna is not easy - because it takes place on steep mountainsides, it has to be done by hand. So, when there was migration to the north of Italy, there were not enough people to do the work, and many of the vineyards fell into disarray.

Another thing that happened was the need for the cheaper bulk wine that came from places like Sicily also petered out. Wines from the south of Italy were not of great quality for most of the 20th century and so were used as blending grapes to add some alcohol and power to Northern Italian and French wines. But, as winemaking techniques across Italy got better, the market also bottomed out for this cheap bulk wine, and so the farmers that were left turned to crops they could make money from.

One further item nearly put the nail in the coffin for these winemakers in that regulations changed. Traditional winemaking in the area relied on gravity-fed lava stone wineries called palmenti. However, in the 1990s, the EU banned the commercial use of this type of winemaking because it was considered unhygienic. When they were forced to modernize, many farmers simply could not afford to, and so they either abandoned winemaking and grew other crops or sold their land altogether. 

To put it in perspective, in the early 20th century there was nearly 250k acres of grape growing land in Sicily. By the end of 20th century, there was less than 10,000. 97% of the vineyard area was gone!

Thankfully, winemakers, many of them from areas outside of Sicily, came to the area to revive the industry, and in the span of about 30 years they have made a massive turn around. It started through a focus on indigenous grapes, like Carricante, the main grape in Etna Bianco that we mentioned earlier, and Nerello Mascalese the main grape in Etna Rosso that we talked about last week, and careful science, planning, and experimentation. 

One really interesting thing I learned in researching for this episode is some of the success for this rebound in the area was precisely related to the region being abandoned for so long. Because nobody had replanted the vineyards, the new producers who came into the area found they could buy neglected plots for pennies, often containing 80-to-100-year-old pre-phylloxera vines. Phylloxera was the pest that devastated grape vines all over Europe. These ancient vines produced tiny amounts of fruit, but that fruit was incredibly concentrated and complex. So, they had the basics of making great wine already there.

Now, that’s a lot of history, so, I think I need to give just a bit more on what Etna Bianco wine is exactly. Like most of Italy, the DOC regulations are fairly strict. To be Etna Bianco, the wine must come from the Etna Bianco DOC, and for standard Etna Bianco, the wine must be at least 60% Carricante. The remaining 40% can be Catarratto, with up to 15% of other non-aromatic grapes like Minella Bianca or Trebbiano. These grapes can be sourced from the north, east, or south slopes of the volcano. For Etna Bianco Superiore, at least 80% of the wine must be Carricante. And, the grapes must be grown exclusively within the commune of Milo on the eastern slope. This version must also reach a minimum alcohol content of 11.5%.

As for Carricante, this is an important white wine grape to know. The grape is thought to have grown on the slopes of Mt Etna for at least a thousand years, and its name comes from the Italian caricare ("to load"), alluding to the variety's historically heavy yields.

There are several things that make it special:

  • It is a late-ripening grape that thrives at extreme elevations (up to 1,200 meters or 4,000 feet) where other grapes can struggle to mature
  • It is defined by striking acidity and what is said to be a distinct saline minerality
  • It is also a wine that can age. Young wines made from the grape are described as bright with citrus, green apple, and anise notes. However, as it ages, Carricante develops complexity, often compared to Riesling or Chablis, with honey, almond, and flint flavors and smells


By the way, outside of Sicily, Carricante is very rare, and so it is a grape that is unique and very well suited to the difficult environment it grows in.

But that’s enough information. I think it’s time to learn a little more about the specific wines we are drinking today. Whaddya say?


Etna Bianco Wines We Chose for This Episode 24:58

As usual, the wines we have chosen for this episode are under $25, and they should be relatively easy to find because I bought them both at wine.com. Etna Bianco is going to be something you have to search around for a bit, but if you go to a store with a good wine selection, particularly a good Italian wine selection, you should not have trouble finding it. And, as always, ask your local wine merchant to help you out if you can’t find it and they will be happy to do so. 

The first wine we are going to drink is the 2023 Murgo Etna Bianco, and this wine is made of 70% Carricante and 30% Catarratto Bianco. This wine got several good reviews including 91 from Wine Spectator, 90 from Vinous, and 90 from sucky James Suckling. 

The grapes for this wine are sustainably farmed, and  are hand-harvested. They macerate the wines for 4 hours after crush, which means they keep the juice in contact with the skins and other fun grape stuff for just a short time, and then they ferment and age in stainless steel. The wine is aged for 6 months before being sold. 

The winemakers for this wine, The Scammacca del Murgo family, has been farming around Mt Etna for a long time. For more than 100 years they cared for olive and fruit trees, made olive oil, and maintained Etna’s native grapes. In 1980, they modernized the farm, and in 1982 they bottled their first Etna Rosso, and then made their first Etna Bianco and brut sparkling in 1990. And, as I mentioned, they practice sustainable farming. 

The second wine we are going to taste and review is the 2024 Nicosia Etna Bianco Lenza di Munti, and if the name Nicosia sounds familiar, that is because we also tasted and reviewed their Etna Rosso last week, and, good news, we liked it! This wine’s blend is a little heavier in Carricante with 80% of the wine Carricante and 20% Catarratto.

The winery says they use “certified eco-friendly practices” which feels like a statement that doesn’t really tell you much. They do ferment the wine in stainless steel for 20-25 days, which is relatively long for a white wine. They say they use cryomaceration, which was a new one to me. Cryomaceration is another name for cold maceration, and is a winemaking technique where crushed grapes are rapidly cooled to near freezing temperatures during the start of fermentation to enhance extraction of color, flavor, and aromas from the skins while limiting bitter tannins. Freezing the grapes leads to richer, more aromatic, and smoother wines. The tech sheet said they did it for “24 hours days” which I am going to assume means they did it for 24 hours, but I may be wrong.

They also say they age the wine in stainless steel tanks, and then bottle age for 4 months before releasing. They use vegan fining agents as part of the fining and filtering process for how they get sediments out of the wine. 

But, I think that is enough information - let’s get to drinking! We’ll take a quick break and be right back. And, if you have these wines or similar wines, drink along with us to get some participation points, which you can trade-in for free stickers. You just need to send me an email with your mailing address, and I will get those “I drink with The Wine Pair Podcast” stickers over to you!


LINKS TO SOURCES FOR THESE SPECIFIC WINES


2023 Murgo Etna Bianco, 2024 Nicosia Etna Bianco Lenza di Munti Wine Tasting, Pairing, and Review 29:16

Wine: Murgo Etna Bianco (Click here to find this wine on wine.com. We may be compensated if you purchase)
Region: Italy, Sicily
Year: 2023
Price: $19.97
Retailer: wine.com
Alcohol:12.5%
Grapes: 70% Carricante and 30% Catarratto Bianco
Professional Rating: V 91, JD 90, JS 90 Vivino 3.7

What we tasted and smelled in this Murgo Etna Bianco: 

  • Color: Corn or straw colored, golden
  • On the nose: Pineapple candy, tropical fruit, apple, pear, saltwater, seashell, Lemonhead candy, Perugia lemon or orange candy, floral
  • In the mouth: Zippy, very lemony, lemonade, margarita, saltiness and seashell on the end, electric, medium-bodied, easy drinking and refreshing, summer vibe

Food to pair with this Murgo Etna Bianco: A great food wine to eat al fresco in the summer, great seafood wine, Mahi Mahi, poke bowl, fish and chips, sushi rolls, nigiri, a bowl of clams, chicken, Feast of the Seven Fishes
 
As a reminder on our rating scale, we rate on a scale of 1-10, with no half points, where 7 and above means that we would buy it, and 4 and below means that we are likely to pour it down the sink, and a 5 or 6 means we are likely to drink it and finish it, but we are probably not going to buy it. 

Murgo Etna Bianco Wine Rating: 

  • Joe: 8/10
  • Carmela: 9/10


Wine: Nicosia Etna Bianco Lenza di Munti (Click here to find this wine on wine.com. We may be compensated if you purchase)
Region: Italy, Sicily
Year: 2024
Price: $23.97
Retailer: wine.com
Alcohol: 12.5%
Grapes: 80% Carricante, 20% Catarratto
Professional Rating: JS 95, V 90 Vivino 3.7

What we tasted and smelled in this Nicosia Etna Bianco Lenza di Munti: 

  • Color: Light yellow, apple juice color, champagne colored
  • On the nose: Pear, white peach, a little pineapple, caramelized pear, bananas foster, saline,
  • In the mouth: Very lemony, zippy and electric, lemondrop, concentrated lemon water, light body, great for people who don’t like heavy wines


Food to pair with this Nicosia Etna Bianco Lenza di Munti: Great with food, a great party wine, cheese board, good with seafood, great with spicy food, Indian food, fried foods, fried calamari, girl dinner, great with antipasti, spaghetti with clams, shrimp, ravioli with sage, ravioli with mushroom, mac and cheese, pasta with cream sauces, chicken

Nicosia Etna Bianco Lenza di Munti Wine Rating: 

  • Joe: 7/10
  • Carmela: 9/10


Which one of these are you finishing tonight?

  • Carmela: Murgo Etna Bianco
  • Joe: Murgo Etna Bianco



Taste profiles expected from Etna Bianco  44:09

  • General 
    • Aromas of fresh citrus (lemon, lime, grapefruit), green apple, white flowers, and herbs like aniseed or mint. Dry, lean, and steely with a crisp, mouth-watering finish on the palate.
    • Aged 5-10 years, develops complex layers of honey, almond, beeswax, and smoky flint
  • Murgo Etna Bianco
    • JS: showing lemons, chalk and broom flowers. Light-bodied, this has silky texture and a slightly leaner finish. It lacks a bit of concentration but is otherwise crisp and chewy with a citrusy aftertaste.
    • JD: a youthful white pepper spice, with lemon/lime zest, white flowers, crushed stones, and melon. Medium-bodied, it’s refreshing with bright acidity and a clean, stony textured finish.
  • Nicosia Etna Bianco Lenza di Munti
    • Winery: On the nose, an intense bouquet with notes of wild flowers, grapefruit and apple. The palate is fresh, elegant and well-structured with a great minerality.
    • JS: Extremely perfumed and fresh with sliced-apple, lemon, lemongrass and lime aromas and flavors that follow through to a medium body with bright acidity and a tangy finish. Really mineral. Vibrant


What is the verdict on Etna Bianco? 46:30
We are sold. We will have lots of this and it is definitely going on the wine list! A new go-to!


Wines coming up in future episodes in case you want to drink along with us 46:51


Outro and how to find The Wine Pair Podcast 47:25

Ok, so, Carmela, it’s time for us to go, but before we do, we want to thank you very much for listening to us - and if you haven’t done so yet, now would be the perfect time to follow or subscribe to our podcast and also a fantastic time to leave us a nice rating and review on our website or Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts - and it is an awesome and free way to support us and help us grow listeners.

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Alright, with that, we are going to sign off, so thanks again, and we will see you next time. And, as we say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.

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