The flint and crushed stones with bright lemon and pear aromas are exciting here. Medium-bodied, it has a creamy texture and delicious finish. What you expect in an Etna white. Drink now.

Notes of sliced apples and chalky lemons with hints of rosemary and stony minerality. Crisp and a little salty on the palate with a medium body and crunchy acidity. Zesty at the end. Drink now.

Nicely balanced and full of vitality, this Etna Rosso from north-slope vines has a slightly smoky fragrance with perfumed dark berries. In the mouth it's intense, zesty and saline, with fine tannins offering gentle support. Lip-smacking stuff, and super-fresh. Eight months in French oak tonneaux.

This has aromas of jasmine, lemon zest, crushed stones, fennel and sea breeze. Medium-bodied with excellent freshness. Stony and mineral, yet remains caressing and approachable. From organically grown grapes. Drink now.

This is a complex mix of almonds, white flowers, yellow peaches and candied lemon. The tight, medium-bodied palate has an almost zesty acidity, vibrant and mineral. Polished, toasty finish. Drink or hold.

An organic blend of 90% Carricante and 10% Catarratto, the Tenute Bosco 2021 Etna Bianco Piano dei Daini is vinified in stainless steel only. The wine shows transparent luminosity with mineral, white peach and citrus. There's not much complexity here, but Piano dei Daini remains high on drinking appeal nonetheless. Production is 15,000 bottles.

Founded around a decade ago in Castiglione di Sicilia, this project is run by the Ponzini sisters; one does the winemaking and the other is the agronomist. This Etna Bianco is a field blend of 40-year-old vines comprising around 90% Carricante and 10% of other grapes, including Catarratto, Grecanico, Inzolia and Minnella Bianco. Peach, grapefruit, flowers and herbs are entwined with some salinity and a lick of lime juice; it just lacks some concentration but that can be put down to the vintage, perhaps.

This is a delicious rendering of Carricante from the slopes of Mount Etna, with very precise balance of ripe but delicate fruit and bright acidity that never seem sour even though it is relentlessly refreshing. The fruit notes are definitely more reminiscent of citrus than any other basic family, but a suggestion of tart, dried apricot is also evident, and other suggestions are likely to emerge as this develops with bottle age. Salty mineral notes are already in evidence, and these will also rise in prominence as the wine benefits from time in bottle. Reds from Etna remain more popular than the whites in worldwide terms, but my experience indicates that Carricante is every bit as superb a variety as Nerello Mascalese (the leading red variety on Etna), and that the whites show the volcanic minerality of Etna’s remarkable terroir even more vividly than the reds. One last tip for those who don’t know these well yet: Sicily as a whole was a joke in Italian wine 25 years ago, whereas now the wines of Etna are now the darlings of the overwhelming majority of critical observers across the country.

While Tenute Bosco is situated in Castiglione di Sicilia, on Etna's north slope, it now also crafts this small-production white from a single plot in the southwest. 2021 is the first vintage, made from 100% Carricante which spends around four months in French oak tonneaux and stainless steel tanks followed by 18 months in the bottle. Floral and lemony, with a zippy saline backbone, it has some buttery and nutty elements which sit alongside the fresh and juicy fruits.

A gravely nose opens with salt and pepper notes and a squeeze of citrus that foretells a lemon-lime palate set against a salty backdrop. Breezy and fun but not boring or limited, with a finish that lingers.

This wine’s flavors of green apple and citrus are pure and zesty, tinged with hints of white smoke and a pleasant almond-skin bitterness. Focused acidity draws out the flavors, lingering on notes of salinity and lemon pith.

Aromas of wet stone, preserved lemon peel and fresh flowers. Medium-bodied with driving acidity and plenty of mineral complexity. Very fresh, crisp and quite intense. Drink now.