Rose-Scented Sicilian Red - Wine & Spirits Magazine

Wine of the Week

Rose-Scented Sicilian Red

by Stephanie Johnson • September 14, 2020

The Santo Spirito vineyard

A hot and dry growing season put Marco de Grazia’s vineyard team to the test in 2017, but the results are simply stunning. After a torrid summer, cooling mistral winds arrived in October, drying out the vines and giving such healthy fruit that the estate was able to vinify the wine without the use of any sulfur dioxide for the first time in its history. Some of the vines that produce this wine have been rooted in Santo Spirito’s rich volcanic ash soils for a century, and in 2017 they yielded a wine that smells like a rose garden. Its intense floral and orange-zest scents give way to saturating red-cherry and raspberry flavors wrapped in lush, ripe tannins; with time in the glass, subtle spice notes emerge, the waves of flavor continuing long after the wine is gone.

Skurnik Wines & Spirits, NY

96

Terre Nere 2017 Etna Rosso Santo Spirito

$48

Where To Buy

Every week, our editors highlight a wine that intrigued them in our blind panel tastings, expanding on their tasting note in this space. These are entirely editorial choices; there are no paid placements. Subscribers can also access the original tasting note by searching h ere.

Stephanie Johnson

is the Italian wine editor at Wine & Spirits magazine.

This story appears in the print issue of October 2020.
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TAGS Italy Mount Etna Sicily W&S October 2020

David Paradela
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David joined Wine & Spirits in 2021 after immersing himself in the world of wine at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally from Boston, he graduated from Boston University with a degree in English and completed a master’s degree in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College in 2021. Prior to working at the magazine, he served as an editor and staff writer for the music blog Sound of Boston and worked in scientific publishing. Aside from wine, he loves basketball, arguing about Taylor Swift’s best album, and everything Greta Gerwig touches.

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