Eredi Di Maio's Affiu Etna Bianco Superiore: The wine I drank most frequently during my most recent visit to Mt Etna

Looking back over my notes and pictures from my attendance at ViniMilo 2025, I realized that, by a large margin, I had drunk more Affiu Etna Bianco Superiore than any other wine. And this consumption was a combination of organized tastings and informal meals at restaurants. I had obviously liked this wine because we kept on ordering it. Below is a series of pictures illustrating my encounters with the Affiu label over the course of the ViniMilo 2025 period.

The author with Andrea Di Maio
of Eredi Di Maio at ViniMilo 2025

Sharing a bottle of 2021 Affiu with Brandon
 at Milo Wine Bar on the evening of August 28, 2025

Affiu 2021 being tasted at the Vinimilo 2025
Etna Bianco Superiore super-tasting, September 1, 2025

Affiu at the ViniMilo 2025 "Young Guns" tasting,
September 7, 2025

Affiu tasted at lunch in Zafferana Etnea
 on September 9, 2025

Affiu tasted at lunch at Ristorante
Da Rinuccio, September 11, 2025

This wine is made by Eredi Di Maio and merits deeper exploration.

The family has been growing grapes on the volcano since 1867. The company literature indicates that Santo Di Maio, great-grandfather of the current generation, returned to Sicily from Argentina to continue cultivation of the family vineyard. During his tenure, he expanded both the size and production levels. Pre-Phylloxera Carricante and Nerello Mascalese were grown in that pioneering vineyard.

Santo passed management of the estate to his son Alfio who continued the tradition of excellent management of the patrimony. 

The estate began vinifying grapes in 2018 and produces wine within the following constraints:

• Only essential interventions
• Respect for nature
• Respect for the territories within which they operate.

Vineyards

The Eredi Di Maio vineyard presence on Milo is illustrated in the chart below.

The chart shows a total of six vineyards distributed over four of the eight Milo contrade. Three of these vineyards are sited in Contrada Caselle with one each in Rinazzo, Praino, and Volpare. Rinazzo is the oldest, planted back in 1867, followed by two of the Caselles in the 1920s, and the Volpare in 1947. The two remaining vineyards are relatively recent additions.

The norm for Eredi Di Maio is small vineyards, with none exceeding 1 ha in surface area. The total vineyard ha is 2.8 with an average of 0.56 ha/vineyard. Of the total 2.8 ha, 2.6 are planted to Carricante with the remainder Nerello Mascalese.

The trend has been to reduced plant density in Eredi Di Maio vineyards. The earliest vineyards were planted to 10,000 vines/ha while the most recent additions are approximately 7,000 vines/ha.

The estate uses copper to combat downy mildew and sulfur for powdery mildew. Sulfur also increases the effectiveness of copper against downy mildew.

Affiu Etna Bianco Superiore

Grapes for Affiu are soft-pressed and then fermented and matured in stainless steel tanks. The wine is further aged in bottle for 6 months prior to release on the market.

When I first tasted this wine during my 2024 ViniMilo visit, I described it as perfumed, with walnut and salinity on the nose. Lean but balanced. Spice. Great wine in need of time. In the "Young Guns" tasting at ViniMilo 2025, I described it as  follows: Lime, bruised apple, salinity, mint, honeyed, and with a slight medicinal quality. A beautiful nose. Orange on the palate. Enters easily and proceeds smoothly to a long, spicy finish. Mineral transit. Persistent as it relates to minerality. Elegant.

And, so, after the "Young Guns" tasting, I was further sold on this wine. My philosophy became, "if you see it, buy it."

This wine also has fans within the Milo grape-growing community. When I did my limited 2024 survey on the best Etna Bianco Superiores, Affiu received three mentions (the most). Further, it was described as follows:

A young winery with an old soul. The vineyards are very dated, partly a hundred years old, and give birth to wines of an absolute depth, of impeccable typicality and great quality. Bright colors that turn from straw to pale golden, nose of fresh, ripe white-fleshed fruit, orange blossom, honey, and hints of citrus. Sour, freschissimo sip, with supportive but never excessive alcohol content, very pleasant salinity. Very good even hours after opening the bottle. Excellent,

I concur.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Tenute di Nuna (Sant'Alfio, Catania, Sicily): Its 2022 and 2015 wines in the ViniMilo 2025 white-grape-identity-of-Etna Masterclass

The Tenute di Nuna wines were the last served in the ViniMilo 2025 Masterclass on Etna white-wine identity held at Azienda Agricola Iuppa. The wines on offer were from the 2022 and 2015 vintages and were the only non-superiore wines included in the night's lineup.

I visited this estate last year and noted that 5 ha of its property are located in Sant'Alfio and 1 ha in Milo. At the time I stated thusly about the estate:

Tenute di Nuna is a small, young entity that is led by an enterprising couple who have strung together the pieces of a puzzle to make quality wine while building towards a more integrated, comprehensive outcome. They focused initially on property acquisition and development and then utilized available resources (outsourced production, local oenologist, in-house agronomic expertise, non-estate base wines) to develop quality products. This resourcefulness will be further manifested in the estate and its products with the passage of time.

The Milo plot was purchased in 2017. This means that the estate did not have the capability of producing Etna Biamco Superiore wines prior to that time except if they used purchased grapes. The likelihood, then, is that both of the wines offered for the tasting were made with grapes sourced from the Sant'Alfio parcel.

The Wines

As stated previously, the wines tasted were the 2022 and 2015 Etna Biancos.

Brandon's notes for the 2022 growing season are as follows:

2022 — This was a hot, dry summer, hotter than normal especially at night. I thought that the Carricante was bigger, perhaps rounder with less tension and acid. Not my favorite year.

I was unable to find any east-side-specific vintage notes for 2015.

The 2022 wine showed salinity and mint on the nose. Lime, burnt citrus skin, and mineral persistence on the palate. Long gooseberry finish.

The 2015 showed mint on the nose along with a hint of sulfur, and wet stones on the nose. Sweet fruit, lime, faded lime skin, and sapidity on the palate. Long finish. Well balanced wine.

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The 2015 was the more elegant and balanced of the two wines. It is not clear that the 2022 will attain the level of the 2015 quality because of the old adage that if you want to get to an older balanced wine you have to start out with a new balanced wine. I am not in a position to saw how the growing season played into the 2015s quality because I was unable to find vintage notes for that year.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Azienda Agricola Iuppa (Contrada Salice, Milo, Catania, Sicily) and its contributions to the ViniMilo 2025 white-grape-identity-of-Etna Masterclass

Azienda Agricola Iuppa's Lindo Etna Bianco Superiore Contrada Salice was the third offering in the lineup of wines tasted in the ViniMilo 2025 White-Grape-Identity-of-Etna Masterclass. The wines on offer were from the 2023 and 2020 vintages. It should be noted that the former is designated Contrada Salice on the label while the latter is not.

I have not previously written about this estate so some background is necessary prior to launching into the comparative tasting.

I couldn't help but smile this morning as I listened to a podcast wherein Marco, the eldest son of Angelo, the estate's owner, was being interviewed by Marc Millon of Wine Food and Travel and told the story of how he found out that they owned a vineyard. 

Marco Iuppa at the right

Angelo, according to Marco, was in the construction business but sometime in the early 2000s he came to the family and told them that they now owned a vineyard. Marco did not know whether to laugh or cry. The next day he went with his father to examine their vineyard and they could hardly open the gate. It was a forest, he said. One piece of land had visible vines but the remainder was comprised of broken down terraces and vines overrun by large trees. 

That was then. This is now.

The obscured vineyards that Marco saw on his first visit to the property have been transformed into terraced vineyards with traditional dry lava stone walls. The Iuppa team has built one of the most esthetically pleasing vineyards on the mountain while retaining that original, visible old-vine plot.

The Iuppa property extends over 9 ha in Milo's Contrada Salice at elevations ranging between 530 and 700 m. The soil in this Contrada is sandy volcanic at 700 m and above and medium textured at elevations below that point. Of the 9 ha, 7 ha have been planted to Carricante, Catarratto, Nerello Mascalese, and Nerello Cappucchio, with a portion hosting a "centuries-old, free-range vineyard" populated with various obscure grape varieties. Ugo Nicosia, the estate’s Marketing Manager (one of the most gifted wine communicators on the mountain and a fierce advocate for Milo wines and the role that the volcanic soils play in the formulation of same), explains the vineyard layout (here) and the old-vine vineyard (here) during a walk-through with the author and Brandon Tokash.

Left to right, Brandon Tokash,
 Ugo Nicosia (Iuppa Marketing Manager),
and Angelo Iuppa (Proprietor)

The estate's stated philosophy is to "diligently work every day to produce authentic, territorial, high-quality wines" that take account of both "Etna's winemaking traditions" and "the most modern oenological techniques."

The vineyard is farmed organically and soil health maintenance and improvement are at the core of vineyard practices. For example, the vineyard is hand-tilled, thus eliminating the risk of machinery-driven soil compaction. Green material is harvested from the plants and integrated into the soil to enrich it with nitrogen. And, of course, chemical use in the vineyard is avoided.

The range of Iuppa wines is pictured below along with characteristics of the growing areas and fermentation and aging regimes. All grapes destined for these wines are subjected to selection both in the field and in the cellar.

During our September (2025) visit to the estate, Ugo led us on a tasting of the estate's 2024 wines. The tasting covered the whites, reds, and old vines wines.

Tasting the Lindo wines at the VinoMilo2025 White Wine Identity of Etna Masterclass

As mentioned previously, the Lindo offerings for the Masterclass were the 2023 and 2020 vintages, in that order.

Brandon Tokash's vintage notes are as follows:

2023 -- The year of the mold; especially for the north slope. Milo was burning, hot, and dry. There was one day where there were major fires all around Milo with some of Iuppa's vineyard burnt. There was concern for smoke taint but we didn't taste any. A better vintage for Nerello than Carricante. I think that some of the freshness and acid was lost, especially at lower Milo altitudes. Stay with the high-elevation Carricante (above 800 m).

2020 -- Warmer than normal spring followed by a hot, dry summer. Overall, the vintage was a good quality one; perhaps better than average.

The 2023 Lindo Contrada Salice exhibited a classic Etna Bianco Superiore nose: sage, minerality, mint, herbs, and citrus. A lean entry on the palate with lime, lime skin, and a metallic mineralogy giving texture to the wine. Alive on the palate. Persistent, with hints of bitterness and herbs. Mineral finish.

The Lindo 2020 had an initial whiff of sulfur and burnt rubber which persisted on the nose. Lime skin and white fruit on the palate. Slate-like minerality. Bianco Superiore characteristics somewhat suppressed.

There were major differences between the two wines which had, in my opinion, nothing to do with age or vintage characteristics. The 2020 appeared to have either winemaking issues or issues with the specific bottle that was poured into my glass. The 2020 was disappointing, especially after the high tone set by the 2023. I expected to derive even more pleasure from the older vintage. I did not.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Benanti Contrada Rinazzo Etna Bianco Superiores 2022 and 2020: ViniMilo 2025 white-grape-identity Masterclass

A couple of Benanti wines (Contrada Rinazzo Etna Bianco Superiores 2022 and 2020) were tasted at the ViniMilo 2025 White Grape Identity of Etna Masterclass.

Benanti was the pioneer of quality winemaking on Mt. Etna and its Pietra Marina, made initially by Salvo Foti, was long one of the finest wines made from the Carricante grape. After taking over management of the estate from their father, Antonio and Salvino have changed the style of their Etna Bianco Superiore as well as reconfigured the lineup. Pietra Marina is still the flagship white but its aging regime has been extended (on lees in stainless steel vats or 30 months plus 1 year in bottle). Two Contrada Biancos have been added to the lineup (Contrada Rinazzo Etna Bianco Superiore and Contrada Cavalieri Etna Bianco) with the Bianco Superiore fermented and aged in stainless steel vats on lees for 12 months and in bottle for an additional 6 months.

Grapes for the Bianco Superiores are sourced from the same Milo vineyard, with the Pietra Marina wine being made from the highest-elevation vines. The physical environment of the Contrada Rinazzo vineyard is as follows:

The Milo growing season notes from Brandon Tokash are as follows:

2022 — This was a hot, dry summer, hotter than normal especially at night. I thought that the Carricante was bigger, perhaps rounder with less tension and acid. Not my favorite year.

2020 -- Warner than normal spring followed by a hot, dry summer. Overall, the vintage was a good quality one; perhaps better than average.

The 2022 Contrada Rinazzo EBS showed sage, salinity, mint and spice on the nose. Soft on the palate with lime sapidity and a metallic minerality. The 2020 showed an herbiness and sweet fruit on the nose. Lime and salinity on the palate. Character-free.

Based on Brandon's notes, these two vintages were  sub-optimal for Milo Carricante.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme