From Etna and the Salty Sea, a White of Great Potential

The first thing you notice about Salvo Foti’s new Aeris vineyard in the foothills of Mount Etna is the sponginess of the soil. In parts of the closely planted 15-acre vineyard, where the young carricante grapevines are trained to grow vertically on chestnut posts in the ancient alberello fashion, powdery soil can seem to engulf a shoe pressed too heavily into the earth.

The second thing you notice are the meticulously constructed stone terraces carved from a hillside and the stone-lined drainage ditches, all intended to slow the flow of water and prevent erosion.

It rains often around Milo, a town on the east face of Mount Etna, the hyperactive volcano that has gained a reputation as a source of excellent reds, made primarily of the nerello mascalese grape.

But Milo is different from the rest of Etna’s grape-growing regions. The prodigious rainfall makes Milo white wine territory, and a welcoming home for the carricante grape in particular.

“Carricante was born in Milo,” Mr. Foti said. Even the rule-enforcing bureaucrats have recognized Milo’s affinity for carricante, the best white wine grape on Sicily: Etna Bianco, made with a minimum of 60 percent carricante, can be produced throughout the Etna grape-growing regions. But Etna Bianco Superiore, a higher level of quality with a minimum of 80 percent carricante, can come from only Milo.