Winemaker Notes
Pale ruby in color with a strong bouquet of rich ripe fruit and spice on the nose. Structured on the palate, full and complex with smooth tannins. Pairs well with meats and seasoned cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
On the nose and the palate, wonderful cherry-blossom and rose-petal characters to the dark cherries and sliced blood oranges. Medium- to full-bodied with balance and intensity, this goes on for minutes.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made with 100% Nerello Mascalese, the Tenuta delle Terre Nere 2022 Etna Rosso San Lorenzo is one of the top single-vineyard expressions from this prolific and visionary Italian producer. This celebrated site sits at 700 meters in elevation and boasts the deep ashy volcanic soils that make for the best farming. This wine does indeed reveal dusty ashy tones at the top with pretty wild fruit and dark cherry at the core. The wine is open-knit and textured with a glossy or polished feel.
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Vinous
Remarkably pretty, the 2022 Etna Rosso San Lorenzo wafts up with an array of dried flowers, cloves and lavender. Lifted and finessed, this opens with a hint of candied orange that enlivens its core of tart wild berries. Brisk acidity keeps the experience fresh throughout. Staining the palate in concentration, the San Lorenzo tapers off gently tannic and crunchy in feel, leaving gorgeous floral perfumes to linger on. This is the understated darling of the Terre Nere portfolio, and I expect that cellaring will bring even more complexity.
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Wine Spectator
A well-spiced version, with warmed cherry and plum fruit flavors structured by fine, taut tannins and lively, blood orange peel–infused acidity. There's a silky plushness to the texture as this red carries notes of sandalwood, fresh earth, mineral, macchia and paprika on the lasting finish.
Extending across the variable volcanic soils of the slopes of Mt. Etna at some of the highest vineyard altitudes in all of Europe—up to 3,300 feet—Nerello Mascalese is one of Sicily’s most noble red varieties. It makes a beautifully aromatic, firm, cellar-worthy but pale-hued red often comparable to a fine Burgundy or Barbaresco. Somm Secret—Nerello Mascalese takes its name from the black color of its grapes, nerello, and the Mascali plain between Mt. Etna and the coast where it is believed to have originated.
A large, geographically and climatically diverse island, just off the toe of Italy, Sicily has long been recognized for its fortified Marsala wines. But it is also a wonderful source of diverse, high quality red and white wines. Steadily increasing in popularity over the past few decades, Italy’s fourth largest wine-producing region is finally receiving the accolades it deserves and shining in today's global market.
Though most think of the climate here as simply hot and dry, variations on this sun-drenched island range from cool Mediterranean along the coastlines to more extreme in its inland zones. Of particular note are the various microclimates of Europe's largest volcano, Mount Etna, where vineyards grow on drastically steep hillsides and varying aspects to the Ionian Sea. The more noteworthy red and white Sicilian wines that come from the volcanic soils of Mount Etna include Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio (reds) and Carricante (whites). All share a racy streak of minerality and, at their best, bear resemblance to their respective red and white Burgundies.
Nero d’Avola is the most widely planted red variety, and is great either as single varietal bottling or in blends with other indigenous varieties or even with international ones. For example, Nero d'Avola is blended with the lighter and floral, Frappato grape, to create the elegant, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, one of the more traditional and respected Sicilian wines of the island.
Grillo and Inzolia, the grapes of Marsala, are also used to produce aromatic, crisp dry Sicilian white. Pantelleria, a subtropical island belonging to the province of Sicily, specializes in Moscato di Pantelleria, made from the variety locally known as Zibibbo.