Woodland Hills Wine Company – Buyer: Matt Bayless
When I walked into Woodland Hills Wine Company, I already knew I was in the right place. You can feel it. Some shops dabble in Sicily. Matt stocks it. Forty-five individual Sicilian wines… forty-five. Which, in the world of fine wine retail, is borderline unheard of. Most shops carry five or six. Maybe ten if someone on staff went to Sicily once on vacation. But forty-five means intention. It means identity. It means the buyer cares.
And in this case, the buyer is Matt, a fixture in the LA wine scene. This wasn’t an undercover visit. Matt knew exactly what I was doing. The $30 experiment, and because I respect his palate and his grounded, bullshit-free passion for wine, I trusted the process even more.
He’s also been to Sicilia en Primeur, a trip I haven’t made yet, and by the time he finished talking, I had mentally planned my own trip for May 2026.
So I asked him the question I ask everywhere I go now:
“Matt, if I walked in with $30 and told you I want to explore Sicilian wine… what would you put in my hand?”
He didn’t hesitate.
He went straight to Graci Etna Rosso DOC 2023.
Matt’s Energy for Sicily
There’s a way people talk when they really know something, not academically, not performatively, but with that easy confidence that only comes from time and immersion. Matt has that. I said “Tell me why,” and he lit up.
He talked about Etna the way I’ve come to understand her myself. Not just as a wine region, but as a living presence. And then he told a story about being with Alberto Graci himself. Matt asked him for “something great” to drink.
Alberto disappeared into the cellar. Silence. Then the sound of bottles clinking and shifting, like someone carefully rummaging through treasure. A few seconds later, Alberto re-emerged not carrying a couple of bottles…but cradling them in both arms, using his shirt like a basket full of fresh eggs from the coop. That’s the kind of energy Sicily gives people: joy, generosity, abundance.
About Graci
Graci is one of the standard-bearers of modern Etna. Pure, transparent winemaking rooted in the northern slopes of the volcano. Alberto farms organically, focuses on high-altitude sites, and makes wines that taste like weather, lava, stone, and restraint. No makeup. No heavy hand. Just volcano, grape, and clarity.
The Etna Rosso is almost always 100% Nerello Mascalese or predominantly so, pulling from vineyards around Passopisciaro and Solicchiata on Etna’s northeast side, places where the air feels different and the soil looks like another planet.
Tasting Notes – Graci Etna Rosso DOC 2023
This is exactly what $30 should get you when Sicily is taken seriously:
Color: pale ruby, almost transparent, like a Burgundy raised on volcanic ash.
Nose: crushed red berries, sour cherry, pomegranate, rose petals, a hint of blood orange, and that unmistakable Etna smoke, not oak, lava.
Palate: sleek, lifted, mineral-driven. Tart red fruit, alpine herbs, and a line of acidity that feels like it’s drawn with a ruler.
Finish: long, savory, slightly salty, almost ferrous. You feel the mountain.
Energy: elegant but tough. Like a dancer who also knows how to throw a punch.
If Burgundy and Barolo had a child on the side while vacationing in Catania, this would be it.
Why This Was the Pick
Because Sicily isn’t a trend for Matt, it’s a category he’s committed to.
And because for $30, you can’t beat a bottle that expresses so much place, history, and volcanic character without trying to impress you with weight or flash.
This is Sicily as it is: raw, alive, and honest.
Final Word
This wasn’t me grabbing a bottle on my own.
This was a buyer who has taken a stand on Sicily saying, “If you want to understand what makes these wines special — start here.”
So this week, that’s exactly what I did.
$30 in my hand.
Graci Etna Rosso DOC 2023.
And a little more belief that Sicily is calling me back.
