Good full red. Mint and cinnamon complicate pristine aromas of red/black cherry, bitter field greens and red rose petals. Enters sweet, rich and dense, then a touch austere in the middle, but with an overall easygoing quality and a building peppery nuance to the red/dark fruit flavors. Silky and very fresh, this is less steely and deep than the Guardiola, but has currently an easier to drink quality to it; more Barbaresco to Guardiola’s Barolo, if you will. The San Lorenzo is one of the Etna’s best contradas for Nerello Mascalese (in fact, it’s a grand cru for this variety, in my opinion). In a telling sign of where Etna is going market-wise, De Grazia bought a small piece of this vineyard only a few years ago in order to make a San Lorenzo with his other Etna brand, Le Vigne di Eli (named in honor of his daughter) and recalls that, “… I paid a hectare that day more than what I had paid for the ten hectares I had bought in 2001”. -- Ian D'Agata