Rustic no more: let’s drink to Sicilian wine

The Italian island’s shift away from bulk production has led to the emergence of several exciting regional specialities

Now that the third season (OK, discourse treadmill) of The White Lotus is sinking into the horizon, and its many fans flock to Thailand in the hope of catching a whiff of Walton Goggins (who I’m in no doubt smells absolutely lovely), I’m grateful that Sicily, the location of season two, might finally be a little less busy. Not least because of its wines.

Wine has been made on Sicily for thousands of years, and the island’s been colonised by just about every ancient civilisation before the Italians took over in the late 1800s. Mass emigration to the US coupled with the two world wars meant that the local wine industry suffered for much of the 20th century, and it’s only been in the past 30 years that it has moved away from an association with bulk cooperative production to prioritising excellence (a story shared with many wine regions internationally).