Until recently, I’d never visited the Etna region; for me, a trip to Sicily had been about exploring the crumbling baroque city of Palermo, Moorish-influenced markets and diving into the Mediterranean. I hadn’t had a great desire to venture up the mountain, happy enough to simply admire it from afar. That changed earlier this year when I tasted some of the wines that are being produced in its volatile landscape.

In the past decade, courageous winemakers deduced that the combination of Etna’s volcanic soil, high altitude, intense sunlight and sea breezes might make for something interesting in the glass. They were right, and now many of the old, abandoned vines have been brought back into production, yielding wines that are now wowing around the globe. The local grape, Nerello Mascalese, produces elegant, light-bodied wines that are redefining Sicilian styles. It has nothing in common with Marsala, the intensely sweet wine from the west, or the island’s other, more robust, lower altitude wines.

This influx of international interest has had a phoenix effect on the region, which I call sotto Etna (‘lower’ or ‘under’ Etna). Wonderful restaurants are being established to match the wine and old vendemmia (grape harvest) houses are being repurposed into stylish accommodation. Sotto Etna is a curiosity, the steep slopes of the volcano’s Mars-like peak giving way to woodland, then vines, citrus groves and the dazzling coastline in a matter of minutes, and offering some of the island’s most seasonally diverse produce. Seafood is abundant here, as it is elsewhere in Sicily, but for me, the subtle, distinctive wines of Etna make far better companions to seafood dishes, such as the Sicilian classic pasta con le sarde that’s flavoured with fennel fronds and the faint, Moorish memory of sweet raisins and traditionally served on Christmas Eve. My expat friends who now live sotto Etna base their version on the definitive recipe by Giorgio Locatelli of Locanda Locatelli in London.

Exploring Sicily any time soon? Check out our top 5 things to eat while you’re there, here and how to make the most of your time there, here.