I have been an avid, proud wine collector for more than half my life. At one point, I thought my passion may subside as I explored new interests. It never has, and I know now that it never will.

The more I live my life, the more vinous treasures I discover. Having said that, coming across a wine that really takes my breath away remains elusive. One that surprises, delights, and challenges.

It’s rare that I denote an article to a single wine, but here I go. For this wine, tasted now on two occasions and with the lucky purchase of a couple of bottles, is so exceptional it deserves its own podium.

On my first trip to Sicily in 2016 I explored the wines of the island and that was the beginning what is a continual rapturous love affair. The indigenous grapes found on the island are like no others I have tried, and most sing so beautifully that I just cannot get enough of them.

The wines made on the volcanic terrain of the northern slopes of Mount Etna, in particular, are unique on this earth, and to my palate, superb. These are the wines I have waited decades to find. Since that trip I have added many to my cellar and continue to find magnificent drops.

Vineyards on the Northern slope of Mount Etna

Masseria del Pino, a tiny biodynamic farm on the northern slope, was begun in 2005 by Catania natives Cesare Fulvio and Federica Turillo. They left their jobs, Cesare a commercial airline pilot and Federica an archery instructor, to cultivate the ancient vines at Contrada Pino, at an elevation of 800 metres.

They craft beautiful minimal intervention wines using organic and biodynamic principles from a two-hectare plot where the vines are over 120 years old. These vines pre-date phylloxera, and that in itself contributes to utterly unique wines. The ungrafted vines are scattered amongst the Narello Mascalese and some of them are so ancient that the specific varieties are completely unknown.

Wines here are crafted the old-fashioned way, entirely by hands and feet, a deliberate direction to maintain the utmost tradition and purity. The restored traditional farmhouse features an old press and large fermentation vats made of lava stone.

The wine in question, the one that has impressed me so deeply, is the 2019 Bianco, the Masseria del Pino Caravan Petrol. It is quite simply, remarkable. A blend of indigenous varietals: Carricante, Cataratto, Minella, and a little Pizzutella, it sees two days of light skin contact, pressed manually prior to wild fermentation with maturation taking place in a single chestnut cask for nine months, prior to unfiltered bottling without any addition of S02.

Naturally, as I write, I am sampling a bottle, so I can be as accurate as I can with the wine’s amazing profile.

The wine is distinctly cloudy, offering up an air of mystery at very first glance. The aroma is fascinating, ever changing and unusual. After an initial appley note, in comes wildflowers, lemon, pear, melon and nuts. Beautiful.

The palate is in a realm of its own. Instantly there is the acidity akin to a lemon tart, sharp and precise. Some lemon rind is there and a wash of salinity and minerality, giving it great texture.

The cloudy hue settles just as the wine itself does. Subsequent tastes bring more grilled nuts, and herbal notes which linger through to the finish. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why I love it so much. There is no doubt I’ve never had any other wine like it. I have enjoyed the individual grapes included in the bottling as unblended wines on separate occasions, but all have been so differently vinified and offer a completely different spectrum.

This is fresh and full of vibrancy, with an underlying, all-knowing power, like majestic Mount Etna herself, embodying her purity and all her raw glory. The primitive techniques used to make the wines on the volcano have altered little for centuries. When tasting this and realising how unique it really is, you do wonder if the very first vines that appeared on Contrada Pino in the 9th century resulted in wines exactly like this.

I imagine you’re wondering about the name of the wine. Mystifying and quite intriguing. Caravan Petrol is a famous Neapolitan song from the 1950’s, telling the ironic story of a man who goes digging in Naples in search of oil. The name is used here as a reference to the success of the wines of Etna, and the big brands that have purchased and bulldozed land for vineyards to try and profit off the region’s soaring popularity.

The colourful label is a dig at this gold rush and the DOC body that promotes it. Those seven atop the camels are the seven deputies on the DOC committee, depicted riding on a desert Etna. Cheeky.

Discovering Caravan Petrol was a small watershed moment for me. Apart from it being so unique, it has gone some way to making me realise that there are indeed exceptional natural skin contact wines out there. Thus, I go forward down another new path of discovery. Such is the endless pursuit of great wine that is such a constant in my life.