Best Wine Tours in Sicily

There is no single best wine tour in Sicily, because the island has four wine regions a long drive apart and a visitor is usually near one of them. What there is: a best tour for each job. The ten below cover every region and every format we compare, ranked by what each one does better than anything else on the island, with the case against it in the same paragraph.

The shortlist at a glance

1. Best overall value with transport: the Taormina half-day

Taormina’s guided Etna wine tasting half-day has more reviews than any other wine tour in Sicily: 602, at 4.7 / 5. For $67 you get the drive through Fiumefreddo, Piedimonte Etneo and Linguaglossa, a tour of a north-slope estate, four wines and an aperitivo of preserved vegetables, Sicilian cheeses, hard-boiled eggs, bread, dried tomatoes and olive oil, and you are back in Taormina by late afternoon. The case against: pick-up is from a meeting point, not your hotel, and the rating is the lowest of the Etna tours here because it is the biggest group. Our breakdown →

2. Best for food: the Etna food and wine day from Taormina

The Mount Etna food and wine tasting tour from Taormina is the tour this site features on its homepage, and food is why. Five wines across a family-run winery and a farmhouse terrace above the vines, cold appetisers of organic cheeses, salami and artichokes, then a full organic lunch with pasta and dessert, with pick-up at your accommodation in a Mercedes minivan. Six hours, $208, rated 4.9 / 5 from 424 reviews. The case against: it is three times the price of the half-day, and if you would rather see the craters than eat, it is the wrong day. Our breakdown →

3. Best from Catania: Etna, wine and the Alcantara gorge

From Catania: Mt. Etna, wine and Alcantara tour with lunch is the most reviewed departure from the city, 531 reviews at 4.9 / 5, and at $110 it covers a lot: a walk around Etna’s craters at about 2,000 metres with a naturalist guide, a lava cave with helmets and lamps, the Alcantara gorges with tickets included, and lunch with wine at a winery. The case against: the tasting is one course of a long day, so book it for the volcano and treat the wine as the bonus. Our breakdown →

4. Best volcano-plus-wine balance: the small-group Etna walk and winery

The Etna walking tour with wine and food tasting in a winery caps the group at eight, drives you to around 1,800 to 2,000 metres, offers an easy-to-moderate 90-minute walk across lava flows and lateral craters and a lava tunnel, then sits you down with a sommelier for Etna wines and food. Seven hours, $175, rated 4.9 / 5 from 338 reviews, with hotel pick-up. The case against: the walk is optional, but if you skip it you have paid for a winery lunch with a long drive attached. Our breakdown →

5. Best value, full stop: the $15 organic winery in Marsala

Baglio DiAr’s winery tour and organic wine tasting in Marsala is the cheapest tour on this site, and it is not a token visit: a guided tour of a young certified-organic winery, then five wines including Grillo, Catarratto, dry Zibibbo, a Nero d’Avola rosé and Perricone, with olive oil, water and snacks. Rated 4.8 / 5 from 181 reviews. The case against: you drive to Marsala, and there is no fortified Marsala in the flight. Our breakdown →

6. Best Marsala cellar: Florio

The Florio winery tour with food-paired wine tastings is the classic: the sea-facing cellars where the barrels breathe the salt air, the story of the wine, then one Florio wine and two Marsalas. $59, rated 4.8 / 5 from 134 reviews. The case against: children only get the tour, and three tastings is fewer than the cheaper cellars pour. For the family-run alternative, Cantine Mothia’s historic winery tour at $29 pours four wines including a Marsala, rated 4.8 / 5 from 163 reviews. The Marsala wine tours page compares the whole town. Our breakdown →

7. Best without a car, and the most reviewed: Bottega Monteleone in Palermo

The wine tasting with snacks at Bottega Monteleone has 924 reviews at 4.8 / 5, more than anything else on the island. Five wines from small Sicilian producers, sparkling through white, rosé, red and dessert, with tapas the operator says add up to a light meal, in a wine bar in central Palermo, for $51. The case against: it is a tasting room, not a vineyard. If you want vines under your feet, go elsewhere on this list. Our breakdown →

8. Best Nero d’Avola estate: Ramaddini near Marzamemi

Ramaddini’s Val di Noto wine tour, tasting and aperitif is the best way to taste Nero d’Avola where it is grown: a cellar tour, four estate labels and a generous aperitivo from fried beans to Modica chocolate, for $49, rated 4.8 / 5 from 10 reviews. The case against: transport is not included and the estate wants two days’ notice, so it is a plan, not an impulse. Our breakdown →

9. Best from Syracuse: Etna trek, wine and food

The Etna tour with trek, wine and food from Siracusa is the answer for anyone based in Ortigia who wants the volcano and a winery in one day without changing base. Pick-up in Syracuse, a trek across Etna’s southern slopes with a trekking guide and poles, a cave, then a Sicilian tasting with local wines at a winery. $110, rated 4.8 / 5 from 202 reviews. The case against: it is a long day from Syracuse, and the wine is a tasting rather than a full lunch. Our breakdown →

10. Best private: three Etna wineries with a sommelier at each

Private and guided: three Etna wineries with food and wine is what the money buys at the top: a private car, hotel or port pick-up, three family-run estates, ten wines in unlimited quantity with food at each, and a sommelier at every stop. $325 per person, rated 4.9 / 5 from 103 reviews. The case against is the price, and note that it is charged per person, not per car, so it does not get cheaper as your group grows. Our breakdown →

How to use this list

Start with where you are sleeping. Taormina and Catania point to Etna, numbers one to four; Palermo and the west to numbers five to seven; Syracuse and the south-east to eight and nine. Then decide how much of the day should be wine and how much should be everything else. The which Sicily wine tour is right for you guide walks through that decision tour by tour, and the prices guide explains what the gaps between $15 and $325 actually pay for. Or check availability for the Taormina half-day, the one most people end up booking.