Gambino Wine Tasting Tour from Taormina: What to Know Before You Book

What to expect on the Gambino wine tasting tour

Gambino is a family winery at about 900 metres on the north-east slope of Etna. The listing doesn’t name it, but recent reviews consistently place the tasting there, and on a clear day reviewers describe views over Linguaglossa towards Taormina and the sea. Several recent reviewers also mention being welcomed by the founding couple, who still come in to meet visitors.

The listing promises four wines with a small aperitivo. In practice, reviewers describe a welcome glass on arrival, then a white, a rosé and two reds at long tables, with a board of Sicilian cheeses, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, grilled aubergine, hard-boiled egg, bread and the estate’s olive oil. Winery staff talk the room through each wine, and many groups also get a short look at the cellar before the shop.

We haven’t taken this tour. For this page we checked the listing and the operator’s own booking page, and read recent traveller reviews in English, German, Dutch, Swedish and several other languages, looking closely at complaints about the coach, the pickup round and the size of the pours.

Before booking, it helps to know four things:

• It is a full-size coach. The operator’s booking page shows up to 51 places on a departure, and recent reviewers describe groups of roughly 30 to 50.
• The coach collects people from more than 20 stops along the coast road, so you may spend an hour or more on board before it heads inland.
• You see Etna from the vineyards and the road. You don’t go up the volcano.
• The tasting is a seated group session of about two hours, with little time to walk in the vineyard.

The size of the group explains most of these points. The guides score 4.8/5 on the listing, and fewer than one review in eight is below four stars.

If you want an easy, low-cost afternoon of Etna wine with the driving done for you, the tour does that well. For a shorter ride out, a pickup in Giardini Naxos makes the most sense.

Coach tour, small group or a tasting booked direct?

If the coach doesn’t suit you, there are two other ways to taste Etna wine from Taormina, and one way to add the volcano itself.

Without a car, the closest alternative is the Etna People small-group day. It takes up to eight people, collects you from your hotel, and visits two wineries with lunch at the second, plus an hour in the medieval village of Castiglione di Sicilia. It is a longer day, at 8.5 hours, and it started from $164 per person when we checked. It is rated 4.8 from more than 100 reviews.

With a car and someone happy to drive, you can book Gambino’s own premium tasting at the same winery. It costs about the same, from $69 per person, lasts two hours, and adds a sixth glass and a fuller plate, including cold cuts, soup, grilled sausage and a small cannolo. It is rated 4.8 from more than 130 reviews. Our self-drive guide covers the roads and the drink-driving rules.

If you were hoping to walk on the volcano, the coach tour won’t do that. The small-group Etna walk with a winery tasting spends about an hour and a half on the lava flows and side craters, with a short lava tube, before lunch and wine at a winery. It is limited to eight people, takes seven hours and started from $171 per person, with a rating of 4.9 from more than 350 reviews.

Tips for booking the Gambino tasting tour

• Choose a Giardini Naxos pickup point if one is convenient. On the operator’s timetable, the Giardini Naxos stops are collected last before the coach turns inland. At checkout on GetYourGuide that means Express Wash Naxos or the Recanati bus terminal. The drop-off order on the way back isn’t published.
• Get to your pickup point ten minutes early and look for the tour sign in the windscreen. One recent reviewer said the coach carried only a small cardboard sign on the dashboard. Another said they missed it by about a minute after crossing the road to look for it.
• Check your messages the day before for your pickup time. Reviewers mention getting pickup details by WhatsApp. Several also say the coach ran late without an update, so keep the operator’s number from your confirmation to hand.
• Take something for motion sickness if you need it. The road climbs through narrow village streets and tight bends, and a seat near the front is usually easier on the stomach.
• Ask early in the tasting if you want wine shipped home. Bottles can be bought in the shop or shipped, but one reviewer found ordering hard in the time left, and another said the winery didn’t ship to their country.

When we checked on 1 October 2026, the operator’s own calendar showed departures on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays through October and into early November. Availability can change, so check the live calendar for your month. Our best time for an Etna wine tour guide covers what the vineyards are like through the year.

From pickup to drop-off

The listing gives 75 minutes on the coach each way and two hours at the winery, which comes to four and a half of the advertised five hours. The pickup round comes on top of that. The operator’s timetable spreads the pickups over 70 minutes, from 13:50 north of Letojanni to 15:00 in Giardini Naxos, and a couple of reviewers describe a door-to-door afternoon of six hours or more.

On the way up, the guide gives a running commentary on Sicily, Etna and the villages you pass. Many reviewers enjoy it. A few would have liked more about the volcano and less general history.

Stop 1: Pickup on the coast road

The coach runs south along the SS114 through Letojanni, Mazzarò and Taormina to Giardini Naxos. The listing excludes any transport from your hotel to the pickup point, so check the walk from your hotel before you choose one.

The drivers get consistent praise for handling a full-size coach on narrow mountain roads. The air conditioning gets mixed reports. Several summer reviewers say it struggled with a full coach in the heat, while others describe a cool, comfortable ride. In July and August, bring water.

Stop 2: A short break in Linguaglossa

Before the winery, the coach stops in Linguaglossa for a short break at a café, with a small biscuit or a coffee granita. Reviews of this stop are mixed. Some enjoyed the granita. Others found it brief, with little open in the village in the afternoon, and would rather have had the time at the winery.

Stop 3: The tasting at Gambino

Much of the praise in the reviews is for the tasting. Many reviewers describe generous pours, with staff topping up favourite wines, and a food board that was more filling than they expected. Reviewers who had been to tastings in other countries are split. Some called it one of the best they had done, while others found it basic, with little on how to taste or what makes Etna wine different.

The format is a group sitting. Winery staff explain the wines to the whole room at once, which some reviewers found hard to follow, and a few lower-rated reviews describe small pours or tables waiting for top-ups while others were served. Two reviewers say two of the four wines came from the family’s vineyards elsewhere in Sicily.

Several reviewers wished for a walk in the vineyard, which isn’t part of the visit. It ends in the shop, where a few felt the emphasis was on selling wine.