Italy · Other producers

Terrazze dell'Etna

A family estate on Etna's northwestern terraces, restoring abandoned vineyard plots since 2007 and making altitude-grown Nerello Mascalese in red, white, and sparkling form.

The producer

Nino Bevilacqua is an engineer from Palermo. In 2007 he bought a set of abandoned plots on the northwestern slopes of Etna, inside the park that bears the volcano's name, and spent the following year rebuilding what he found: stone terrace walls, neglected vines, and original palmenti, the lava-rock pressing grottos that predate modern cellars on the mountain. The winery opened in 2008. The terraces at the contrada Bocca d'Orzo climb from 650 to 950 metres above sea level, and every bottle the estate makes comes from Nerello Mascalese grown at that altitude on volcanic soils derived from the slow breakdown of lava into ash and volcanic sand.

The range is small and deliberately varied. Cirneco is the Etna DOC red: medium-bodied, fresh-tannic, savory and mineral, shaped by slow ripening at altitude. Carusu is a second Etna DOC red with its own aromatic register. Ciuri is a blanc de noir pressed from 100 percent Nerello Mascalese, produced in Randazzo and labeled as white wine rather than Etna DOC, with tropical fruit, a savory mid-palate, and a mineral finish built from volcanic soil. A sparkling wine rounds out the range, made on-site with traditional hand-riddling on pupitres. All harvesting is done by hand. Sheep graze between the vines at the end of each winter before teams hoe the volcanic earth the flocks have softened.

Known for

Nerello Mascalese at altitude on volcanic terraces; blanc de noir (Ciuri)

Notable facts

The story

The 2024 Vertical

On 14 April 2024, at Vinitaly in Verona, Terrazze dell'Etna set out three bottles: Ciuri 2013 and Cirneco 2008 and 2009. The estate had opened in 2008. The oldest Cirneco on the table was from the first harvest. The Ciuri was eleven years old. Pouring those bottles publicly, to trade buyers and press, was a longevity argument made without words: an estate barely sixteen years old placing its first vintages against professional scrutiny and waiting to see whether they held. They did. The 2008 and 2009 reds showed what altitude and volcanic soil do to Nerello Mascalese over time: the tannin settles, the savory character deepens, and the acid line that seemed angular in youth keeps the wine alive.

The 2024 Vertical

On 14 April 2024, at Vinitaly in Verona, Terrazze dell'Etna set out three bottles: Ciuri 2013 and Cirneco 2008 and 2009. The estate had opened in 2008. The oldest Cirneco on the table was from the first harvest. The Ciuri was eleven years old. Pouring those bottles publicly, to trade buyers and press, was a longevity argument made without words: an estate barely sixteen years old placing its first vintages against professional scrutiny and waiting to see whether they held. They did. The 2008 and 2009 reds showed what altitude and volcanic soil do to Nerello Mascalese over time: the tannin settles, the savory character deepens, and the acid line that seemed angular in youth keeps the wine alive.

From the atlas

Terrazze dell'Etna

At A Glance

The Producer

Nino Bevilacqua is an engineer from Palermo. In 2007 he bought a set of abandoned vineyard plots on the northwestern slopes of Etna, inside the park that bears the volcano's name, and spent the following year rebuilding what he found there: stone terrace walls, neglected vines, and original palmenti, the traditional lava-rock wine grottos used for pressing grapes before modern cellars arrived. The winery opened in 2008.

The grape is Nerello Mascalese throughout. From those plots in the contrada Bocca d'Orzo, at elevations between 650 and 950 metres, the estate makes a red, a white, and a sparkling wine. The white, Ciuri, is pressed entirely from Nerello Mascalese, making it one of the rare blanc de noirs produced on Etna.

Place

Etna is a working volcano and an active agricultural zone. The northwestern slopes sit inside Etna Natural Park and carry the Etna DOC appellation, which covers red and white wines made from specified native varieties. Nerello Mascalese is the principal red grape of the DOC and dominates the zone's most serious production.

Bocca d'Orzo is a contrada, a named geographic district, on the northwestern face of the mountain. The terraces there climb from 650 metres to 950 metres above sea level. That altitude shapes the wines directly: ripening is slower than on lower Etna slopes, acidity stays higher, and the fruit reads as savory and mineral rather than full and warm. The cooler register at Bocca d'Orzo separates the estate's bottles from Etna reds grown in warmer, lower contrade.

Ciuri, the blanc de noir, is produced in the nearby town of Randazzo and carries a simple white wine designation rather than Etna DOC. Its production outside the DOC white wine framework gives the estate freedom in how it handles the grape but removes the appellation banner from the label.

Soil And Site

The soils at Bocca d'Orzo are volcanic in origin. Lava rock breaks down slowly into ash and volcanic sand, leaving a porous, low-fertility substrate that drains quickly and forces vine roots to work deep. The estate traces its wines' mineral character directly to that soil origin.

The terraces themselves were built by hand and have been maintained that way. Before the Bevilacqua restoration, they were abandoned. The stone walls holding the terrace steps were rebuilt as part of the estate's founding work, and the plots are now cultivated by local workers following the vine's seasonal rhythm.

Story

Bevilacqua purchased the plots in 2007, a year before the winery officially opened. The gap between acquisition and founding covers the physical labour of the restoration: clearing abandoned vines, rebuilding the collapsed terrace walls, and clearing out the palmenti to make them usable again. The founding year is when the restoration became a winery capable of producing wine. The purchase year is when the commitment was made.

By 2016, the estate had engaged Riccardo Cotarella, a consulting enologist with a long track record in southern Italian wine, and Pier Giuseppe Carucci as winemaker. That consulting relationship, documented at the time by an independent publication, placed serious cellar thinking behind a project that had begun as a farming and heritage restoration effort. Whether Cotarella remains involved today is not confirmed, but his early presence shaped how the estate's first vintages were made.

The direction was clear from the beginning: Nerello Mascalese at altitude, minimal intervention in the vineyard, and wines that carry the character of volcanic soil rather than heavy oak or extraction.

Vineyards And Cellar

All harvesting is done by hand. Much of the vineyard work, including hoeing and vine management, is also manual, a practical necessity on narrow stone terraces where machinery cannot move. At the end of each winter, sheep graze between the vine rows. The flocks soften and fertilize the volcanic earth before vineyard teams hoe the ground after they have passed. It is a farming rhythm that pre-dates the estate and connects its work to the older agricultural history of the mountain.

The estate does not hold organic certification. As of 2016, chemical sprays were not used in the vineyards, a position shared by Alessia Bevilacqua at the time.

Inside the cellar, French-oak barrels handle ageing for the still wines. A dedicated pupitre room is used for the sparkling wine, where bottles are turned by hand during the disgorgement preparation process. The modern production facility sits alongside this older sparkling-wine infrastructure.

Wines

The range has four positions: two reds, one white, and one sparkling, all built on Nerello Mascalese.

Cirneco is the Etna DOC red and the central bottle of the range. Medium-bodied, with fresh tannin and a savory, volcanic character, it carries the altitude of Bocca d'Orzo in every part of the palate. The cooler ripening at 650 to 950 metres keeps the tannin tight and the acidity alive. It is not a rich or heavy red.

Carusu is a second Etna DOC red. Its blend composition is not fully specified, but the wine sits in a distinct position from Cirneco, with its own aromatic and finish profile.

Ciuri is a blanc de noir pressed from 100% Nerello Mascalese and produced in Randazzo. It carries a white wine label rather than Etna DOC. Tropical fruit comes first, a savory mid-palate follows, and the finish is mineral. It started as a technical experiment and became the estate's most unusual and most discussed bottle.

The sparkling wine is produced using traditional hand-riddling on pupitres inside the cellar. Grape composition and appellation are not fully confirmed, but the infrastructure is dedicated and the production is on-site.

In The Glass

Cirneco opens on the savory side of Nerello Mascalese: dried herbs, red cherry, and a faint volcanic lift rather than jammy or overripe fruit. In the mouth, the tannin is fresh and finely grained rather than grippy, and the acidity is high enough to keep the wine moving through the palate. The finish is dry, slightly mineral, and clean. Altitude does most of that work: slow ripening at Bocca d'Orzo keeps sugar accumulation in check and preserves acidity through the finish.

Ciuri moves differently. Pressed immediately from the red grape, it carries a lighter pigment and none of Nerello's tannin, but it picks up the grape's aromatic generosity in a white wine frame. Tropical fruit, a savory turn at the mid-palate, and a mineral finish built from volcanic soil. It is a fresher, more unexpected wine than the red, and it ages: the 2013 vintage was poured publicly in 2024 and held.

A Bottle To Understand It

Cirneco is the first bottle to reach for. It is the Etna DOC red, Nerello Mascalese grown at altitude on volcanic soil, and it carries everything the estate is doing in a single glass. The tannin is fresh and the fruit is savory, not sweet. The acidity runs through the finish rather than disappearing in the mid-palate. There is no heavy oak and no extracted weight. It is an altitude wine from a restored stone terrace, and it tastes like that.

Start here. Ciuri is worth finding afterward, but the red is where the estate's argument is most directly made.

Anecdote

On 14 April 2024, at Vinitaly in Verona, Terrazze dell'Etna set out three bottles: Ciuri 2013 and Cirneco 2008 and 2009. The estate had opened in 2008. The oldest Cirneco on the table was from the first harvest. The Ciuri was eleven years old. Pouring those bottles publicly, to trade buyers and press, was a longevity argument made without words: an estate barely sixteen years old placing its first vintages against professional scrutiny and waiting to see whether they held. They did. The 2008 and 2009 reds showed what altitude and volcanic soil do to Nerello Mascalese over time: the tannin settles, the savory character deepens, and the acid line that seemed angular in youth keeps the wine alive.

Final Word

Terrazze dell'Etna is a restoration project that became a wine estate. The stone terraces at Bocca d'Orzo were abandoned before Nino Bevilacqua bought them in 2007, and the palmenti had not been used for their original purpose in years. The estate's argument, made through Cirneco and Ciuri, is that Nerello Mascalese at 650 to 950 metres on volcanic soils produces wines with a savory, mineral character and enough acidity to age. The 2024 Vinitaly vertical made that case with bottles from the first harvests.

Sources

Open Terrazze dell'Etna in the interactive map →