Terre Siciliane is the region-wide IGT title for Sicily. It was created in November 2011, to take the place of Sicilia IGT and sit underneath the newly-created Sicilia DOC. The name Terre Siciliane translates literally as 'Sicilian lands'.
Just like its predecessor, it covers the entire Sicilia region. This comprises the main island of Sicily and each of its satellite islands, including the Aeolian Islands (which also have their own Salina IGT title) and Pantelleria.
In keeping with the stylistic freedom of the IGT category, Terre Siciliane IGT wines can be made in virtually any style: red, white or rosé, still or sparkling, dry or sweet. Naturally, given Sicily's strong focus on its traditional grape varieties, the likes of Catarratto, Inzolia, and Nerello Mascalese feature in wines produced under the title.
However, in 2017 rules were passed stipulating that all wines made from either the white grape variety Grillo or Nero d'Avola had to be classified as Sicilia DOC. Thus the two main local varieties were ruled out of the IGT.
But the island is also known for its focus on the international wine market, and thus the 'international' grape varieties (e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay). These will also make up an important part of the Terre Siciliane wine portfolio over time.
Until its promotion into a DOC, Sicilia IGT had been Sicily's most widely used IGT title by far, used for many hundreds of wines. It now accounts for more than 60 percent of all DOC production here. Somewhat controversially, the promotion was not accompanied by the more stringent production conditions typically associated with DOC titles.
This raised an important question: what incentive would there be for the island's wine producers to use the new Terre Siciliane title, when their wines had just received a 'free upgrade' to DOC status? At the time of its creation there were some concerns that the new IGT would be seldom used.
The number of listings on the Wine-Searcher database suggest this has not come to pass. In part this may be because many producers still work within the broad IGT boundaries to gain maximum stylistic and methodological freedom. However the selection at the time of writing did include a large number of Nero d'Avola wines and a smaller group of Grillos. As mentioned above newer vintages of these will depart the classification.
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