Canada’s first Master Sommelier, John Szabo, has enjoyed a rich career both in fine restaurants and as an importer, wine judge, podcaster and writer for specialist wine publications. So when his editor requested a paragraph on Szabo’s “favourite wine” in 2009, he thought he’d opt for something more original than the famous champagnes, barolos and burgundies name-dropped by his colleagues. He pondered the most surprising wines he’d tasted during his travels – the searing assyrtikos of Santorini, the earthy nerello mascaleses of Mount Etna, the ambrosial aszú wines of Tokaj. “I was thinking about all these wines made with unusual, little-known grape varieties,” Szabo recalls, “when suddenly I had a realisation – they were all from volcanic areas.” Amused, Szabo started to write: “My favourite wine grows on a volcano ...” Unexpectedly, Szabo’s curious editor commissioned a full article. “As I started researching, I began to see there was a fascinating world of grapes growing on volcanic terroirs all over the planet, yielding some very interesting wines,” he says. “There was clearly material for more than an article – there was enough for a book.”

In 2016, following a multiyear international tour of 28 wine regions, Szabo published Volcanic Wines: Salt, Grit and Power, the first English-language guide using volcanic soil to connect global wines and regions. What made Louis IX declare tokaji “vinum regum, rex vinorum” (wine of kings, king of wines) over France’s many excellent dessert wines? Why would the Russian tsars fill their cellars with verdelho do Pico from the distant Azores? How did an unknown Napa Valley cabernet trounce Bordeaux’s greatest crus in the 1976 “Judgement of Paris”? Szabo’s book offered a compelling answer to all these questions: volcanic soils, representing only around one per cent of the world’s surface, yield a distinctive imprint, producing inimitable wines of salt, grit and power.

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Critically acclaimed, the work received the André Simon Book Award, the UK’s most prestigious wine-literature prize. Restaurants began soliciting Szabo for help creating “volcanic wine lists”, and The Drinks Business declared him “one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject”. Overnight, Szabo became a flagbearer for a new global movement. In 2018, he founded the annual International Volcanic Wine Conference in New York to introduce global wine professionals and media to his producer contacts. In 2024, he partnered with Wine & Spirits magazine to launch the annual Volcanic Wine Awards. Although they encompass “a world of infinite nuance, a radiant rainbow of colours”, says Szabo, volcanic wines have emerged as a new, singular category that seems destined to last.

Volcanic regions rank among the planet’s most extreme, hostile places, and their wine industries were often the first to suffer from global market evolutions. “Raising the downtrodden wasn’t the initial goal of my book,” says Szabo. “But, as I discovered, volcanic wines are often made with indigenous grape varieties that nearly went extinct, and many volcanic regions were once almost abandoned.” Szabo’s book dedicates an entire chapter to the Greek volcanic island of Santorini, whose multimillennial winemaking tradition had almost vanished by the 21st century. Its inhabitants fled from natural disasters in the 1950s, but since the 2000s, pioneering winemakers resumed creating some of the world’s greatest white wines from indigenous assyrtiko grapes on the island’s desolate pumice fields. Szabo’s reaction the first time he tasted one? “Jesus Christ, what is this?”

Volcanic-island wines have elicited similar reactions for centuries: Shakespeare himself described Canarian malvasia as “a marvellous searching wine, it perfumes the blood ere one can say: what’s this?” Today, Canary growers plant malvasía volcánica in hoyos – two-meter craters dug into the black ash to shield vines from hot winds. Wine Advocate’s Luis Gutiérrez was invigorated by his 2023 visit, noting, “In the last 10 years, there’s been a transition in the region from fruit-driven or oaky wines to volcanic wines unashamed of their origin and soils.” Further out into the Atlantic, Azores winemakers are resurrecting their forgotten crus by restoring centuries-old currais vineyard walls on Pico’s lava flats.

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The belief in the difference that dirt makes fires the movement. “Good old empirical observation, dating back thousands of years, has suggested that volcanic soils are special,” says Szabo. Why? Ask a scholar of vineyard soils like Olivier Humbrecht, France’s first Master of Wine and owner of Domaine Zind-Humbrecht in Alsace. Whether comprised of decomposed lava rock from recent eruptions or of ashes and lava from millions of years ago compressed into heavy rock, “all volcanic soils are extremely rich in minerals (potassium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium)”, says Humbrecht. “As the rock decomposes, it releases these minerals into the soil. This is very interesting for wine because they will influence its flavours and its acidity, as the minerals combine with the grapes’ tartaric acid to create tartrates – mineral salts.”

Szabo participated in a study published in 2022 in the Revue des Œnologues, which compared same-grape wines grown on volcanic and non-volcanic soils in France’s Auvergne region. A 20-person tasting panel overwhelmingly perceived significant differences in colour, acidity and peppery character in wines from volcanic terroirs. That doesn’t surprise Humbrecht, who grows traditional Alsatian grape varieties across 12 terroirs, including Alsace’s only entirely volcanic grand cru vineyard, Rangen de Thann. “True volcanic soils are quite rare, so a wine from a volcanic vineyard will always stand out,” he says. “Volcanic soils like Rangen’s can even control the exuberance of grapes like gewürztraminer, tempering its perfume with aromas of flint stone, earth and smoke. More than the grape, the first thing you smell is the soil.”

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Napa Valley winemaker Paul Hobbs sees that signature as key to volcanic wine’s allure. “A strong shift has been steadily on the rise for over 10 years now,” he says, “with consumers gravitating toward wines that show power coupled with finesse while simultaneously being able to see the vineyard or site’s personality reflected in the glass.” The unique minerality, freshness and graphite imparted by his vineyards in Coombsville – a Napa sub-appellation situated in an ancient volcanic caldera – earned his cabernets 100-point scores from Decanter and The Drinks Business in 2024.

The recent explosion in interest for volcanic wines has seen entire regions rebrand themselves to highlight their soils. The Volcanic Agriculture of Europe association represents producers from volcanic regions like Italy’s Soave and Greece’s Santorini, while Loire Volcanique in France unites 46 wineries from four historically undervalued appellations with terroirs shaped by volcanism. Romain Paire of Domaine des Pothiers in the Côte Roannaise considers it a movement, not marketing. “This isn’t just a fad,” he says. “We’re not representing some new style of wine, we’ve gathered together around something fundamental – our identity.”

Among his favourite wines, Szabo lists a dry white Santorini assyrtiko, a sweet golden Tokaji Aszú from Hungary, and a sumptuous cabernet from California’s Vaca Mountains– three wines which we’d have said have nothing in common a decade ago. Today, they share an identity rooted in an idea that Szabo helped establish: “Dirt matters.” Another reason why volcanic wine will surely be found in oenophiles’ cellars for millennia to come.

Great Bottles of Fire
A whirlwind tasting tour in 12 volcanic cuvées

© Julia Ilkova

Mount Gambier, Australia
Good Intentions Wine Co, Volcanic Lakes Chardonnay, 2022

On the slopes of a dormant volcano in the cool, maritime southeast of South Australia, Andrew Burchell of Good Intentions Wine Co uses organic viticulture and old-world winemaking to create his Volcanic Lakes cuvée. Mike Bennie of Australian wine library The Wine Front describes the 2022 vintage as follows: “Jura-meets-chablis in a way, but then again, wholly distinct and wonderful. Saline and super-lemony with distinct mineral features in river pebble and slate characters … a crunch to texture and cooling acidity bringing additional life to the wine … lovely. 95 points.”

Alsace, France
Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, Gewürztraminer Grand Cru Rangen de Thann Clos Saint Urbain, 2021

When Léonard Humbrecht bought his Clos Saint Urbain vineyard in the 1970s, Rangen de Thann was all but abandoned. However, his gewürztraminer reveals why the mineral-rich terroir of Rangen’s only 100% volcanic grand cru was once legendary for winemaking, adding spice, salt and smoke to the aromatic grape’s floral, fruity aromas. Wine & Spirits magazine enthused that “you could not get any more volcanic or gewürztraminer” of this Chairman’s Award winner at the 2024 Volcanic Wine Awards. Tasting the 2021, James Suckling raved, “This is how I imagine the great wines of the Middle Ages … Deep, spicy and ever-so-slightly exotic nose with plenty of smoky complexity … 96 points.”

Nahe, Germany
Weingut Dönnhoff, Riesling Felsenberg GG, 2023

One of the most famed terroirs in the Nahe region’s 2,000-year-old growing tradition is the große Lage (grand cru) Felsenberg – a steep, south-facing slope of volcanic rock. Here, producer Weingut Dönnhoff – described by critic Neal Martin as being “to Nahe what Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is to the Côte d’Or” – makes some of Germany’s greatest riesling. Tasting the 2023 Riesling GG Felsenberg, James Suckling wrote, “Radically smoky and massively structured in spite of being only medium-bodied, this astonishingly dry riesling expresses the personality of this volcanic site with great authority and precision.... 98 points.”

 © Julia Ilkova

Tokaj, Hungary
Royal Tokaji Tokaji 6 Puttonyos Betsek, 2017

The now-dormant volcanoes of Hungary’s Carpathian Basin left behind a plethora of volcanic terroirs, including Tokaj, the birthplace of the legendary sweet noble rot wine, and Royal Tokaji makes some of the best. In outstanding years, the winery produces a few barrels of single-vineyard Tokaji Aszú, and 2017’s production was dubbed “a truly volcanic vintage” for its exceptional richness, structure and lively acidity. Neal Martin of Vinous scored the wine 96/100, lauding it as perhaps its “finest single-vineyard release”.

Yamanashi prefecture, Japan
Suntory From Farm, Tomi Koshu, 2022

As Japanese wine consumption has surged, so has the number of estates seeking to prove the potential of Japan’s volcanic soils and indigenous grapes. Among them is the historic brewing company Suntory’s Tomi No Oka Winery, whose koshu vines are planted on soils formed by Mount Kurofuji’s pyroclastic flows. At the 2024 Decanter World Wine Awards, it became the first Japanese winery to be awarded Best in Show, for its Tomi Koshu 2022. “You’d never guess from this understated, ultra-discreet yet impeccably focused glass of wine just how warm growing conditions are in Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture,” the judges wrote. “Pale silver-gold in colour, with whispered tropical-fruit scents and a slender, darting flavour ... both quenching and refined. 97 points.”

Napa, California, USA
Paul Hobbs Winery, Nathan Coombs Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, 2021

Stag’s Leap cabernet’s triumph at the 1976 Judgement of Paris established Napa as a world-class wine producer. The vineyard’s unique soils are made up of detritus from the volcanoes that formed Napa’s landscape millions of years ago, as are those of one of Napa’s newest sub-appellations, Coombsville. Since acquiring his 28ha vineyard in 2012, Paul Hobbs has been creating distinctive wines of purity, minerality and acidity. The first Coombsville cab to receive 100 points from Decanter came in 2024 – the 2021 Paul Hobbs Nathan Coombs Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. The magazine’s Jonathan Cristaldi called it, “An immaculate, masterful creation … With time, the layers of tobacco, brown baking spices, salty dark chocolate and cedar will meld to form a wine so pleasing it might simply be overwhelming.”

© Julia Ilkova

Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
Archery Summit Winery, Dundee Hills Pinot Noir, 2021

Willamette Valley can thank the unfathomable lava flows of the Cascade Range volcanoes around 15 million years ago for making it a world-renowned wine region. Gary Andrus founded Archery Summit here in 1993 and set about creating site-specific wines that prove its terroir can make pinot noirs to rival Burgundy. At the 2023 Decanter World Wine Awards, his 2021 Dundee Hills Pinot Noir was awarded Best in Show. “A fine example of the charm, balance and satisfaction that fine Dundee Hills pinot can provide,” the judges wrote, “… soft-contoured yet energetic, with arresting intensity of fruit … refreshing bitter notes in the finish, too, with a hint of earthiness perhaps derived from the clays of volcanic origin … beautiful drinking. 97 points.”

Vesuvius, Italy
Cantine Villa Dora, Vesuvio Caprettone DOC, 2021

First praised by history’s first wine critic, Pliny the Elder, Mount Vesuvius’ vineyards of volcanic ash and lapilli are still producing noteworthy wines, thanks to producers like the Ambrosio family of Cantine Villa Dora. Their use of traditional “pergola vesuviana” vine training and ungrafted indigenous grape varietals reveal the region’s potential. Its Vesuvio Caprettone is a rarity – one of the two varieties used for white Lacryma Christi bottled alone. For the Italian wine expert Luca Dusi of London’s Passione Vino, “Villa Dora’s Caprettone is a prime example of volcanic elegance.” California-based importer Oliver McCrum agrees: “Villa Dora’s whites are the purest expression of volcanic tang that I’ve tasted, and this is a vivid, distinctive, flinty example of their style.”

Etna, Italy
Passopisciaro, 20 anni, 2019

Progressively abandoned after WWII, recent investment has fostered a return to winemaking on Sicily’s Mount Etna, whose high-altitude vineyards of nerello mascalese have great potential for producing surprisingly fresh, earthy wines. Enrico Bernardo, the 2004 Best Sommelier of the World, predicts “Etna will become for volcanic wine what Vosne-Romanée is for pinot noir”. In 2000, Andrea Franchetti founded the Passopisciaro winery among Etna’s highest vineyard sites, or “contrade”, bottling each contrada separately to highlight their distinctive characters. But to celebrate the estate’s 20th anniversary in 2019, Franchetti produced 1,550 magnums of a special cuvée, 20 Anni, blending grapes (and character) from every contrada – Sciaranuova’s enticing spiciness, Rampante’s delicate flowers, Porcaria’s juicy red fruit …  It’s an exquisite homage to terroir.

© Julia Ilkova

Azores, Portugal
Azores Wine Company, Vinha Centenária, 2021

In the 1800s, winemaking was a major industry in the Azores – until the phylloxera insect destroyed it. Today on Pico Island, replanted coastal lava fields and efforts to rehabilitate currais vine enclosures are nurturing new production, with Azores Wine Company leading the revival. Among its rarest cuvées (720 bottles) is Vinha Centenária, produced from a single vineyard of organically farmed arinto dos açores, verdelho, boal and alicante branco vines, planted over a century ago in solid lava stone. The Wine Advocate’s Mark Squires noted of the 2021 vintage: “elegant and balanced, handling its wood well and lingering on the finish. It’s beautifully constructed but also surprisingly approachable in its youth. This is very lush this year, relatively easy to approach. It is pretty tasty, too ... 94 points.”

Lanzarote, Spain
Puro Rofe, Juan Bello, 2022

18th-century eruptions created Lanzarote’s lunar landscape, blanketing the island with black pebbles called rofe. Today, Puro Rofe is a new wine collaboration between the local merchant Rayco Fernández and growers, focused on creating pure expressions of volcanic stone. Its cuvée Juan Bello, a remarkably salty, tangy, savoury wine, is named after the nearby volcano. The vines grow in protective crater-like hoyos. For the Wine Advocate’s Luis Gutiérrez, “When you discover projects like Puro Rofe, you cannot help but be optimistic about the future of the wines from the Canary Islands!” Already impressed by the 2021 Juan Bello, Gutiérrez awarded the 2022 95 points.

Santorini, Greece
Hatzidakis Winery, Assyrtiko de Louros, 2021

For those courageous enough to grow on the arid, windswept Greek isle of Santorini, the phylloxera-free soils and ancient grape varieties produce wines of mouthwatering salinity and freshness. There, the Hatzidakis family has been expressing Santorini’s terroir through organic viticulture and low-intervention winemaking since 1996. Today, in the words of wine merchant Heiner Lobenberg, “Hatzidakis wines are, for me, some of the grandest white wines in the world and [its] Assyrtiko de Louros is the absolute diamond in the winery’s crown.” Made from a single vineyard of 200-year-old assyrtiko vines, the cuvée has seduced critics like Peter Moser of Falstaff: “Taut, tight and powerful texture, fine yellow fruit, integrated acidity, enormous mineral mouthfeel, chalky-saline finesse … Grand cru quality. 98/100.”

Bottle illustrations © Julia Ilkova
Header illustration © Oleg Borodin