Monteleone - Etna

Giulia Monteleone and Benedetto Alessandro are the first of our producers to create their winery from scratch, rather than taking over existing vineyards or operations from the generations preceding them. Giulia was a wine writer before founding Monteleone, and Benedetto an oenologist, so they came with a specific vision when they founded the winery: to make fine wines expressing place, with a relentless pursuit of quality. The consequence we see from this is a level of deliberate precision that extends from the selection of the vineyards they have purchased, starting in 2017, through to the treatment of each wine in the cellar.

Where many Etna wine bottles will feature vivid depictions of the volcano, often in full eruption mode, you will notice the Monteleone labels are more subtle, focusing on the flora and fauna that can be found around their vineyards. 

The wines they are producing are already superb, without exception. But it's only since 2023 that they've started using their own winemaking equipment at the estate, so we are anticipating great things in the years to come as their grapes, techniques and equipment reach full harmony. We have the sense of getting in on the ground level of something very special.

A combination of volcanic soil and cooler microclimates makes Etna wine so dramatically different to other Sicilian styles - and puts them right in the sweet spot for our preference at Vino Cammino. Vibrant acid, bright fruits, ethereal character and age-worthy structure are a hallmark of the native varieties grown around Etna and in the Monteleone vineyards. For reds, it's Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio. For whites, Carricante is the focus.