Etna

Etna was a backwater until the early 2000s. Its old vines of Nerello Mascalese and Carricante, grown up to a thousand metres on volcanic soils, now make wines compared with Burgundy and Barolo, and producers from across Italy and abroad have bought in. The official land values lag far behind what buyers actually pay for old vines in the best contrade.

Economics in brief

CREA, Italy’s agricultural research body, put Etna DOC vineyard at €45,000–95,000 a hectare in 2024. Producers report paying €150,000–250,000 for old vines in the named contrade, about ten times the price of vineyard elsewhere in Sicily, and peak values rose by more than half between 2008 and 2023. The vines are often more than eighty years old, ungrafted and low-yielding, which keeps supply small as demand grows. The DOC has applied for DOCG status.