10/8/26 - 

With so much excellent wine coming from Mount Etna, its easy to forget about the Western end of the island. The West houses some of our favorite artisanal growers making oxidative wines, and more recently electric dry wines, from native grapes like Grillo, Catarratto, and Zibibbo.

'Pre-British style' refers to the ancient tradition of oxidizing and aging in a perpetual barrel system and without fortification. Marco De Bartoli and Barraco are making some of the most compelling oxidative, sweet, and dry wines on the coast, while Porta del Vento sits a bit more inland & higher elevation, and Tanca Nica braves the wild landscape of Pantelleria. Today we have a wide range of dry table wines, sweet passito wines, totally dry oxidative wines, and more traditional semi-sweet Marsala.

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Marco De Bartoli

Sometimes our favorite wine regions have a boomerang effect: a product made in a meticulous traditional way rises in popularity, demand grows, and new producers pop up searching for ways to increase quantities. Subsequently, the quality falls as you see more caramel coloring, added sugar, and lack of aging. Then the boomerang comes back around when a resurgence of makers yearning for traditional methods set up shop. Such is the story behind Marco De Bartoli's beginning in the 1970's. He left behind his career as a race-car driver and rebuilt his mother’s old cellar just outside the city of Marsala. Later on he started another project on the island of Pantelleria, which is closer to Tunisia than Sicily. After Marco’s passing, his children continue the family legacy.

Marco is credited with reviving many forgotten winemaking traditions. First and foremost is using 100% Grillo (prized for it's complexity and acidity) instead of the more common Catarratto. Next is his choice to not fortify with brandy, as fortification was brought by the British in 1773 to help the wine survive its sea voyage, and previously did not exist in Marsala. Next is the process of aging in a fractional blending system similar to sherry, called 'perpetuo' in this area. The De Bartoli's take it many steps further by using all hand-harvested, estate-grown fruit and typically aging far beyond DOC requirements. If you are new to the idea of old school, terroir-driven Marsala, let De Bartoli be your entry.

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Nino Barraco Believes the Future is Oxidative

Nino Barraco is the son of generations of farmers. He changed course by choosing to bottle his own wines starting in 2004, rather than selling to large Marsala houses. Inspired by Marco De Bartoli, he works with pre-British methods and emphasizes single vineyard releases of organically farmed Grillo. His wines are sunny and fresh mirrors of Marsala's high limestone terroir. Nino believes in concrete as an aging vessel and the only barrels on the property are chestnut.

Nino believes the future of wine is oxidative, and the best way to understand that is through his top wine, 'Altogrado'. This wine absolutely blew me away with its length and salinity.

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Tanca Nica's Singular Zibibbo from Pantelleria

2025 is shaping up to be one of those rare vintages in Italy where quality is high from the North to the South. Even the furthest reaches of the country, including the small volcanic island of Pantelleria, closer to Tunisia than Sicily. This is where Nicoletta Pecorelli and Francesco Ferreri are crafting some of the most singular, site-specific wines focusing on Zibibbo. They work incredibly hard to farm here, battling intense winds, lack of rainfall, low density vines, and low yields. Only the bravest can survive!

Their very old collection of vines are trained in the traditional 'Alberello Pantesco' system. The vines sit in a basin of protective soil, branches are selected to form a radial pattern and planted at low density. This only exists on Pantelleria to specifically combat the Sirocco wind which is intense enough to rip vines right out of the soil and also to encourage water retention on the dry island. This tradition received UNESCO world heritage status in 2014 to honor its cultural impact! All three wines on offer today are Zibibbo, differentiated by soil type and vinification and show the vibrant spectrum that one grape can express.

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Porta del Vento 2025 Catarratto

This is one of the most complex Catarratto we've tasted in a while. The combination of 70 year old vines, 600m of elevation, and sandy soils is the perfect storm for a very compelling Catarratto considering how widely planted this grape is. 70 year old vines at 600 meters of elevation in sandy soils in DOC Monreale. The typical Catarratto appley fruit takes a back seat here, allowing minty herbs, smoke, and quince to shine. 

-Marisa Licandro

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