White Grape · Sicily
The grape whose name means raisin, grown in pits dug against the wind on a volcanic island closer to Africa than to mainland Italy.
Zibibbo is the aromatic white grape of Sicily's far south, known to science as Muscat of Alexandria. It reaches its peak on Pantelleria, the volcanic island closer to Tunisia than to Palermo, where it yields both bone-dry whites and the amber passito wines that made the island's name.
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Also known as
The Sicilian name, from the Arabic zabib meaning raisin. Used across the island and on most Pantelleria labels.
The Italian catalogue name, pointing at Alexandria in Egypt as the variety's supposed cradle.
The international prime name used by the Vitis International Variety Catalogue, which registers Greece as the country of origin.
Used on the island itself, where it doubles as the denomination name for the sweet wines.
An older Italian synonym reflecting the variety's large berries and table-grape past.
The anchor fact: Zibibbo, Moscato di Alessandria and Muscat of Alexandria are one grape with more than 300 recorded synonyms; the name on the label tells you where the producer is, not what style is in the bottle.
Taste · Where it sits
Forget scores out of five. Here’s Zibibbo described against grapes you already know.
Fuller than Grillo and rounder than Carricante, but nowhere near the density of a barrel-aged Fiano. Pantelleria's sun builds weight through ripeness rather than extract.
Even the skin-contact and passito versions stay soft, because the drying concentrates sugar and aroma rather than the phenolic grip you would get from an orange-wine Catarratto.
Naturally lower in acid than Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains, its own parent. What stops the wine collapsing is Pantelleria's saline finish, not the acidity that carries Carricante or Grillo.
The variety works at both poles and is unconvincing in the middle. Producers either ferment it out bone dry, as in Lighea, or dry the grapes for passito; Moscato d'Asti's gentle off-dry register is not this grape's game.
Key flavours
The map
Zibibbo is medium-bodied, gentle acidity, mapped against other white grapes you can buy. The closer a grape sits, the more its weight and freshness resemble Zibibbo.
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Serving guide
Serve at
8-12°C
Too warm and the alcohol swamps the orange blossom; the passito in particular needs the chill to stay lifted.
Decant
No
No benefit. The aromatics are the point and decanting only blows them off.
Glass
Tulip Glass
A tulip narrows the rim enough to hold the Muscat perfume in without concentrating the alcohol.
Drink within
3-5 days
Dry Zibibbo is at its best in the first two years, while the passito rewards patience.
Cellar
3-20 years
Passito from a good vintage will hold for two decades; the dry wines will not, and there is nothing to gain by waiting.
On the table
Start with the home-table matches that made the grape, then browse the full cuisine library.
The classic
Salt against sugar is the oldest argument in dessert-wine pairing, and Zibibbo passito has enough perfume to survive a mature Gorgonzola rather than being flattened by it.
Follow the honey
Both the wine and the pastry are built on honey, nuts and dried fruit, a shared Mediterranean vocabulary that runs straight back to the Arab influence on Sicilian cooking.
Only if it is dark
The candied-orange note in Zibibbo does the work here, echoing the orange that Sicilian bakers have always put with dark chocolate; milk chocolate would smother the wine.
Browse every pairing
Buy it · three to start with
A curated trio across the price range, then every Zibibbo on sale in the UK right now.
Entry · everyday
2 retailers
Sicilia
2 retailers
£14.00
Why this one: The cheapest honest introduction to the dry style, and the quickest way to learn that Zibibbo does not have to be sweet.
The sweet spot
2 retailers
Sicilia
2 retailers
£18.60
£19.79
Why this one: Lighea is the benchmark dry Zibibbo, and the reference point most Sicilian producers are measured against.
Special occasion
2 retailers
Pantelleria
2 retailers
£39.00
Why this one: Ben Rye is the passito that made Pantelleria's modern reputation, made from grapes dried on the island in the sun.
7 bottles
2 retailers
Sicilia
2 retailers
£14.00
2 retailers
Sicilia
2 retailers
£18.60
£19.79
2 retailers
Pantelleria
2 retailers
£39.00
1 retailer
Appellation TBD
1 retailer
£16.51
1 retailer
Pantelleria
1 retailer
£19.70
£22.91
1 retailer
Pantelleria
1 retailer
£26.90
1 retailer
Pantelleria
1 retailer
£29.00
£36.25
Denominations
The appellations where Zibibbo plays a starring role.
Where it grows
Volcanic Nerello on Etna's black terraces, sun-baked Nero d'Avola on the south-east coast, fortified Marsala in Trapani and UNESCO Zibibbo on Pantelleria: Sicily holds Italy's widest single-region wine map.
The terroir
Zibibbo changes character with almost nothing but sunlight and wind, which is why the same grape reads as a crisp aperitivo white on the Trapani coast and as a dense amber dessert wine forty miles offshore.
Pantelleria
Volcanic island, closer to Tunisia than Palermo
Passito and dry whites of real concentration, from bush vines set in pits against the wind
Trapani and the western coast
Mainland Sicily
Lighter, fresher dry whites made for the table rather than the cellar
Erice
Higher ground above Trapani
Cooler nights give a more restrained, floral reading of the same grape
Editorial
Zibibbo carries one of the clearest name trails in Italian wine. The word comes from the Arabic zabib, meaning raisin, which is what it was grown for long before anyone bottled it. Its international name, Muscat of Alexandria, points at Egypt, though the Vitis International Variety Catalogue registers Greece as the origin and gives the parentage as Heptakilo crossed with Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains. Three names, three geographies, one grape.
The name comes from the Arabic for raisin, and on Pantelleria the grapes really are dried in the sun before they ever reach a press.
On the origin of ZibibboModern Zibibbo is overwhelmingly a Sicilian story, centred on Trapani, Palermo and Agrigento and above all on Pantelleria. Drought-tolerant and happiest on volcanic and sandy soils, it took well to an island with little rain and much wind. There the vines grow as alberello pantesco, each plant set low in a hollow dug roughly 20 centimetres into the ground to shelter from the wind and catch what moisture the night gives up. UNESCO listed the practice as intangible cultural heritage in November 2014, the first agricultural technique anywhere to be recognised.
In the glass the grape is unmistakable. Dry bottlings are golden and scented with orange blossom, peach and citrus peel, carrying real weight but very little tannin. The passito wines, from grapes dried in the sun, turn amber and concentrate into apricot, honey and candied orange, with a saline lift that keeps them from cloying. Among Italy's sweet wines Zibibbo is the most overtly perfumed, sitting at the opposite pole from the taut, mineral Carricante of Etna.
It appears in the Pantelleria, Erice and Sicilia denominations, and now sits alongside Grillo and Catarratto in the revival of serious Sicilian white wine. Donnafugata did most to build its modern reputation, with both a dry Zibibbo and the passito Ben Rye. For the volcanic counterpart in red see Nerello Mascalese; our guide to Etna Bianco covers the island's other volcanic white.
Good to know
Yes. Zibibbo is the Sicilian name for the variety catalogued internationally as Muscat of Alexandria, and also known in Italy as Moscato di Alessandria and Moscatellone. On Pantelleria you will also see it labelled Moscato di Pantelleria. They are all the same grape, and the name on the bottle usually tells you where the producer is standing rather than what is in the glass.
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding. Zibibbo makes bone-dry whites as readily as it makes sweet ones. The dry versions are golden, aromatic and low in tannin, with the same orange-blossom perfume but no residual sugar. The famous passito wines are sweet because the grapes are dried in the sun before pressing, not because the variety itself must be sweet.
It comes from the Arabic zabib, meaning raisin or dried grape. The name reflects how the variety was used for centuries around the Mediterranean, as a table and drying grape rather than purely a wine grape. That history still shows in the modern passito wines of Pantelleria, where the grapes are laid out to dry before fermentation.
It is the traditional low bush-vine training used on Pantelleria, where each plant sits in a hollow dug about 20 centimetres into the ground. The pit shelters the vine from the island's constant wind and helps it capture scarce moisture. UNESCO inscribed the practice on its register of intangible cultural heritage in November 2014, the first agricultural practice to receive that recognition.
Serve it cold, between 8 and 12 degrees, with the dry versions at the cooler end and the passito slightly warmer so the aromatics open. Neither style needs decanting. A tulip glass suits both, concentrating the orange blossom and apricot without letting the alcohol dominate. Pour the sweet version in small measures; it is rich enough that a little goes a long way.
Blue cheese is the classic partner, where the wine's sweetness balances the salt. It also works with almond-based pastries, dried fruit and dark chocolate. The key is to make sure the wine is sweeter than the dish, otherwise the fruit falls away and only the alcohol remains. Avoid pairing it with anything sharply acidic.
Explore by style
Jump to the editorial guide for each style this grape turns up in.
Keep exploring
545 wines
31 denominations
