Tenuta delle Terre Nere 'San Lorenzo' Etna Rosso, Sicily, Italy 2023

Contrada San Lorenzo’s terroir comes from lava flows and volcanoclastic deposits created by Etna’s Ellittico eruptive center (60,000–15,000 years ago). Though relatively young, these Ellittico soils are the oldest surface layers left on Etna, as later lava flows buried everything older, leaving only rare fragments exposed.

On the volcano’s northern slopes, only a handful of contrade contain Ellittico soils, and most are mixed with alluvial deposits from the Alcantara River. Only two contrade have pure Ellittico terroir: Calderara and San Lorenzo.

"The 2023 Etna Rosso San Lorenzo is surprisingly rich and spicy in this vintage. Cloves and cinnamon sticks combine with hints of cherry sauce and blood orange. This is elegant in style, with seamlessly silken textures and depths of ripe red berry fruits that saturate the palate in primary concentration. Powerful and potent, the 2023 finishes with extreme length and a staining of liquid lavender that lingers for well over a minute. The 2023 is unlike any San Lorenzo l've yet tasted. This has unbelievable depth." Vinous 97