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Oro d'Etna - Azienda Agricola Costa

A Costa family estate in Zafferana Etnea on Etna's eastern slope, founded around honey in 1988 and now producing Etna DOC wines from Nerello Mascalese and mixed-heritage white grapes, with a traditional-method sparkling programme launched in 2026.

The producer

The Costa family came to wine by way of bees. Their estate in Zafferana Etnea, on the quieter eastern side of Mount Etna, began as a honey operation in 1988 and still runs close to a thousand hives, producing around 30 tonnes of honey each year. The vineyard came later, added across family time and now covering five hectares on volcanic slopes at 550 metres above sea level, with the oldest terraced parcels carrying vines more than 80 years old. Sebastiano Costa owns the estate; his son Domenico manages it, and oenologist Leonardo La Corte shapes the wines.

The range carries the Etna DOC designation across white, rosé, and red, with the flagship being De Rerum Aetna, a varietal Nerello Mascalese aged three months on fine lees and then 18 months in a 2,000-litre cask made from chestnut grown on Etna itself. In March 2026, the family inaugurated a new winery and launched three traditional-method sparkling wines from Nerello Mascalese, a direction almost no producer on the mountain had taken with that grape. Total output sits at approximately 20,000 to 25,000 bottles per year.

Known for

Nerello Mascalese aged in Etna chestnut casks; traditional-method sparkling wines from Nerello Mascalese.

Notable facts

The story

The Beekeeper's Sparkling Wine

On 3 March 2026, Domenico Costa stood in the new winery at Zafferana Etnea with his father Sebastiano, his mother Melina, and his sister Cristina, and opened three bottles of sparkling wine made from Nerello Mascalese by the traditional method. The family had spent nearly four decades on this hillside, first tending close to a thousand hives and selling honey, then planting vines and building a still-wine range under the Etna DOC. Nobody on the mountain had done much with Nerello Mascalese as a base for metodo classico wines: it is a red mountain grape associated with long cask ageing and savoury reds, not with the second fermentation in bottle that Champagne made famous. Domenico had decided otherwise. The new winery, inaugurated the same day, was the physical condition that made the sparkling programme possible. Three bottles came out. The beekeeper's family had become sparkling-wine producers on an active volcano.

The Beekeeper's Sparkling Wine

On 3 March 2026, Domenico Costa stood in the new winery at Zafferana Etnea with his father Sebastiano, his mother Melina, and his sister Cristina, and opened three bottles of sparkling wine made from Nerello Mascalese by the traditional method. The family had spent nearly four decades on this hillside, first tending close to a thousand hives and selling honey, then planting vines and building a still-wine range under the Etna DOC. Nobody on the mountain had done much with Nerello Mascalese as a base for metodo classico wines: it is a red mountain grape associated with long cask ageing and savoury reds, not with the second fermentation in bottle that Champagne made famous. Domenico had decided otherwise. The new winery, inaugurated the same day, was the physical condition that made the sparkling programme possible. Three bottles came out. The beekeeper's family had become sparkling-wine producers on an active volcano.

From the atlas

Oro d'Etna - Azienda Agricola Costa

At A Glance

LocationZafferana Etnea, eastern slope of Mount Etna, Sicily
Founded1988
FamilySebastiano Costa (owner), Domenico Costa (manager), Leonardo La Corte (oenologist)
VineyardFive hectares at 550 metres above sea level
DesignationEtna DOC
Key GrapesNerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Carricante, Catarratto, Minnella
Signature WineDe Rerum Aetna (Nerello Mascalese red)
Annual ProductionApproximately 20,000 to 25,000 bottles

The Producer

The Costa family came to wine by way of bees. Their estate in Zafferana Etnea, on the quieter eastern side of Mount Etna, began as a honey operation in 1988 and still runs close to a thousand hives, producing around 30 tonnes of honey each year. The vineyard came later, added across family time and now covering five hectares on the volcanic slopes at 550 metres above sea level.

Sebastiano Costa owns the estate. His son Domenico manages it, and oenologist Leonardo La Corte shapes the wines. In March 2026, the family inaugurated a new winery and launched three traditional-method sparkling wines from Nerello Mascalese, the red mountain grape that anchors everything they grow. The wine side of the business arrived after the beekeeping but has moved fast.

Place

Zafferana Etnea sits on Etna's eastern flank, a side of the volcano that draws fewer wine tourists than the north but shares the same geological character: basalt-rich volcanic soils, mineral vigour, and altitude that slows ripening through long, cool growing seasons. At 550 metres, the estate sits high enough that the nights stay fresh well into harvest, holding the acidity in both red and white grapes and keeping aromatics from going flat.

The Etna DOC label, which covers all the estate's wines, frames the eastern slope within the broader Etna wine zone. Nerello Mascalese is the principal red grape of the DOC, responsible for wines that combine red-fruit character with the savoury, mineral edge that volcanic soils produce. Carricante is the key white grape on the eastern side, known for its firm acidity and citrus-driven profile.

Soil And Site

The five hectares at Zafferana sit on volcanic terrain. Etna's soils carry the mineral load of centuries of eruptions: basalt and lava-derived earth that drains fast, holds heat unevenly, and feeds low-vigour vines that produce fruit with concentrated flavour and high natural acidity. The 550-metre elevation amplifies this: thin air, cooler temperatures, and a long growing window give the grapes time to develop complexity without losing freshness.

Story

The Costa family planted their first vines after years of managing bees on the same volcanic hillside. The honey business gave the estate its rhythm and its name: Oro d'Etna, gold of Etna, a phrase that works for honey and, eventually, for wine. The vineyard grew in layers across three generations of the family's time on the land, with the oldest terraced parcels now carrying vines more than 80 years old alongside a 40-year-old core block and a younger planting of about ten years.

The winemaking side took longer to formalise. For years the estate had an ageing cellar but sent fruit or finished wine through facilities it did not own. By early 2026 that changed: a new winery was completed at Zafferana, and the family used its inauguration to present a new direction. Alongside the established Etna DOC white, rosé, and red range, Domenico Costa brought out three traditional-method sparkling wines from Nerello Mascalese, a grape almost no one on the mountain had taken in that direction.

Vineyards And Cellar

The five hectares divide roughly into three vineyard ages. The oldest terraced parcels are over 80 years old, trained on the low, bush-pruned systems common to older Etna holdings. The central block, just over three hectares, is around 40 years old and planted with a co-mingled mix of red and white varieties: Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio, Catarratto, Carricante, and Minnella growing together in the same rows, harvested and fermented as the old Etna tradition allows. A younger parcel of about ten years rounds out the estate.

In the cellar, De Rerum Aetna follows a precise path: three months on fine lees, then 18 months in a 2,000-litre cask made from chestnut grown on Etna itself. Chestnut is a traditional ageing wood in Sicily, less neutral than French oak but softer in tannin transfer than new barrique, and at that volume the influence is gradual. The wine has time to develop its character before release.

Wines

The range carries the Etna DOC designation across four styles, with a new sparkling tier added in 2026.

De Rerum Aetna is 100% Nerello Mascalese, the estate's red flagship. It spends 21 months between lees and chestnut cask before release, giving it the depth of a wine built for a few years in the bottle. The palate is dry and velvety, with developed tannins and a long savoury finish. Aromatically it pulls in multiple directions at once: withered rose and red-fruit jam alongside cocoa, leather, tobacco, wet stone, balsamic, and spice.

Vena Aetna is an Etna DOC red blend. The grape composition and cellar approach differ from De Rerum Aetna, offering a second point of entry into the estate's red wine thinking.

Amygdalis is the estate's Etna DOC white blend, built from the white varieties in the older parcels.

An Etna DOC rosé completes the still-wine range. Three traditional-method sparkling wines from Nerello Mascalese, launched in early 2026, represent the newest layer of the estate's production.

Total output across all wines sits at approximately 20,000 to 25,000 bottles per year, modest for a five-hectare estate with multiple styles.

In The Glass

De Rerum Aetna opens with aromas that seem to belong to two different wine families at once. Dried rose petals and red-fruit jam come first, the kind of warm, slightly oxidative fruit character that chestnut-cask ageing tends to develop in Nerello Mascalese. Behind those come darker notes: cocoa, leather, tobacco, and wet stone with a balsamic thread and a lift of spice.

In the mouth the wine is dry and smooth-edged, the tannins developed and rounded rather than grippy. The 18 months in large cask have softened what Nerello Mascalese can produce in youth without stripping the grape's natural savouriness. The finish is long and aromatic, returning to the mineral and spice notes that the volcanic terroir tends to leave behind.

The white Amygdalis and the rosé, drawn from the same mixed-heritage parcels, share the estate's general character: altitude-cooled fruit from old volcanic soils.

A Bottle To Understand It

De Rerum Aetna is the bottle. It is 100% Nerello Mascalese from five-hectare volcanic parcels at 550 metres, aged three months on fine lees and then 18 months in a 2,000-litre Etna chestnut cask. The wine is dry, with a velvety mouthfeel and developed tannins: no sweetness, no raw oak, nothing to obscure the way the grape and the mountain translate into the glass. The aromatic range is wide, from dried rose through red-fruit jam to wet stone and balsamic, and the finish is long and savoury. It is the wine that shows what the Costa family is actually doing with this piece of eastern Etna, and why the chestnut cask matters.

Anecdote

On 3 March 2026, Domenico Costa stood in the new winery at Zafferana Etnea with his father Sebastiano, his mother Melina, and his sister Cristina, and opened three bottles of sparkling wine made from Nerello Mascalese by the traditional method. The family had spent nearly four decades on this hillside, first tending close to a thousand hives and selling honey, then planting vines and building a still-wine range under the Etna DOC. Nobody on the mountain had done much with Nerello Mascalese as a base for metodo classico wines; it is a red mountain grape associated with long cask ageing and savoury reds, not with the second fermentation in bottle that Champagne made famous. Domenico had decided otherwise. The new winery, inaugurated the same day, was the physical condition that made the sparkling programme possible. Three bottles came out. The beekeeper's family had become sparkling-wine producers on an active volcano.

Final Word

Oro d'Etna is a family estate that arrived at wine from an unusual direction, built its range carefully on five hectares of mixed-age volcanic vineyard, and in early 2026 moved into territory that most Etna producers had left untouched. De Rerum Aetna shows where the estate stands today: a varietal Nerello Mascalese with real ageing behind it, drawn from old volcanic soils on the mountain's eastern side.

Sources

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