Sicily
Est. 2010 
6 wines 
Tastings
Tours
Booking required
Wine area
Etna
Black volcanic terraces on Europe's highest active volcano, the home of Nerello Mascalese and Carricante.
Palmento Costanzo
Palmento Costanzo is a family wine estate at Passopisciaro, on the north slope of Etna in Sicily. Mimmo Costanzo and Valeria Agosta bought it in 2010, and Valeria now runs it with their daughter Serena. Its old bush vines, some more than 130 years old, give Etna DOC reds and whites. The wines are made in a restored stone palmento from the 1800s, with a new cellar beside it. Four tastings run every day, each with a vineyard walk and a visit to the old palmento.
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Wines from Palmento Costanzo
About Palmento Costanzo
Mimmo Costanzo and Valeria Agosta came to Etna from Catania. In 2010 they bought an old stone palmento at Passopisciaro, on the north slope of the volcano, together with the vines around it. Some of those vines are more than 130 years old. Valeria runs the estate today with their daughter Serena, and the Sicilian winemaker Nicola Centonze makes the wines. In 2022 Forbes Italia named the estate among its 100 Italian excellences.
The estate now farms 18 hectares, about 25 football pitches. Etna growers name each stretch of slope by contrada, and Santo Spirito is the family's first and largest, with twelve of those hectares. A lava flow in 1879 fixed the shape of this land. Black rock breaks the surface, and the vines stand on dry-stone terraces between piles of cleared stones, from about 600 to 800 metres up. Most are bush vines tied to chestnut posts, worked by hand and farmed organically. Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio make the reds, Carricante and Catarratto the whites. Smaller plots lie near Randazzo, at Zottorinoto, Bragaseggi and Feudi di Mezzo. On the south-west slope, at Santa Maria di Licodia, the Cavaliere vineyard grows Carricante.
A palmento is the stone building where Etna growers once trod their grapes, and this one was built in the 1800s. The family restored it without changing its levels. Grapes are still pressed where feet once did the work, now in oak vats, and the wine moves down by gravity with no pumps. One steel tank, shaped like an orange and cut into segments, holds five wines apart. A new cellar was built beside the palmento in 2019, partly underground, with cone-shaped skylights and tunnels that cool it with the mountain air. In summer that cuts its energy use by more than 65 per cent.
Each plot ferments on its own, in steel or in big oak casks, so the wood never covers the fruit. Three plots at Santo Spirito, numbered 464, 466 and 468, are bottled apart and aged in egg-shaped French oak casks. The range runs from the Mofete and Di Sei lines to the Contrada Santo Spirito red and white. Nero di Sei was the first label. Prefillossera, about 1,600 bottles, comes from vines that survived phylloxera: 90 per cent Nerello Mascalese with 10 per cent Nerello Cappuccio. There are two sparkling wines too, a Brut and a Brut Rosé, both fermented in the bottle. The wines sold in the UK have their own pages below.
The estate is open every day from 10.00 to 18.30 and sells four tastings on its own website, in English or Italian. Each one includes a walk through the Santo Spirito vines and a visit to the old palmento. The three wine tastings come with bread, the estate's own olive oil and two local products, and Palmento at the Table adds a seasonal lunch. Rural buildings are being restored for about 12 beds among the vines, and the estate says they will open soon. A wine club, Amici di Palmento Costanzo, gives members older vintages, events and special access.
Plate I · SICILY
Palmento Costanzo on the Sicily wine atlas
Winery
Palmento Costanzo
Castiglione di Sicilia, Catania · Etna
Denominations Produced
Grapes Used
Visit & Experiences
4 bookable experiences at Palmento Costanzo
4 tastings, checked by our editors. From €50.
Tasting & Tour
Palmento Costanzo, Passopisciaro
Welcome Di Sei: four wines of the Di Sei line
1 hour 30 minutes
From €50 a person
Charged in full if cancelled within 48 hours
English or Italian
The sparkling Brut, Bianco di Sei, Rosa di Sei and Nero di Sei, the estate's first label. A walk through the Santo Spirito vines and a visit to the old palmento are included. Bread, the estate's own olive oil and two local products come with the wines.
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Tasting & Tour
Palmento Costanzo, Passopisciaro
Through our Contrade: five wines from different slopes
1 hour 30 minutes
From €65 a person
Charged in full if cancelled within 48 hours
English or Italian
The Brut, the Santo Spirito white, the Cavaliere white from the south-west slope, Nero di Sei and the Santo Spirito red, with the vineyard walk and the old palmento. Bread, olive oil and two local products are served.
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Tasting & Tour
Palmento Costanzo, Passopisciaro
Here we are at Santo Spirito: five wines from one vineyard
1 hour 30 minutes
From €80 a person
Charged in full if cancelled within 48 hours
English or Italian
The Brut, the Santo Spirito white and red, Nero di Sei and Prefillossera, from the terraces where the family's story began, with the vineyard walk and the palmento visit.
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Tasting & Tour
Palmento Costanzo, Passopisciaro
Palmento at the Table: four wines with a seasonal lunch
2 hours
From €75 a person
Charged in full if cancelled within 48 hours
English or Italian
Local dishes chosen by season and matched to four of the estate's wines, served in the palmento, with the vineyard walk and the cellar visit. Two sittings a day, at 11.30 and 13.30.
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For enquiries, use the phone number and email in Plan your visit.
Plan your visit
Contrada Santo Spirito - Passopisciaro, 95012 Castiglione di Sicilia, Catania (Sicilia)
What Palmento Costanzo makes
Palmento Costanzo's current bottle selection is led by Etna DOC. The clearest grape signal comes from Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio.
Denominations
Key grapes
Common questions
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At Contrada Santo Spirito in Passopisciaro, a village of Castiglione di Sicilia in the province of Catania, on the north slope of Etna. The vineyards sit inside the Etna Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, between Passopisciaro and Randazzo.
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