2024 Tenuta Delle Terre Nere Rosso Guardiola, Sicily

The 2024 Etna Rosso Guardiola combines spiced blood orange, sweet dusty rose, sour cherry and mint. This reveals weighty textures of pure silk alongside elegant red and blue fruits that envelop the senses. Gripping tannins saturate the palate as the 2024 tapers off long, revealing vividly fresh blackberry tones. This is a more giving vintage of Guardiola, but it's well structured for cellaring.

94+ points Eric Guido, Vinous September 2026

Tenuta delle Terre Nere has been central to Etna’s modern renaissance. Marco de Grazia began assembling vineyards on the volcano’s northern slopes in the early 2000s, fascinated by ancient vines, altitude and the extraordinary patchwork of lava flows that gives each contrada its own personality. His decision to bottle these sites separately helped establish Etna’s individual vineyards as something approaching the crus of Burgundy or Barolo. Guardiola is one of the highest and most dramatic in the collection.

Guardiola sits high on Etna’s northern flank, around 800 to 1,000 metres above sea level, where Nerello Mascalese struggles in dark, stony volcanic soils. At this altitude the growing season is long, with intense Sicilian sunlight tempered by cold mountain nights. Guardiola tends to be one of Terre Nere’s most fragrant and finely structured reds, with remarkable tension beneath the fruit. The 2024 captures that high altitude character beautifully, more about perfume, energy and mineral detail than power.

Luminous ruby garnet with sour cherry, wild raspberry and pomegranate followed by violet and blood orange. Fennel, anise and black tea emerge with air, joined by dried herbs, smoky earth and crushed volcanic rock. The palate is finely drawn and energetic, with pure red fruit driven by vibrant acidity and firm, powdery tannins. Cherry and citrus peel gradually give way to liquorice, tea leaf and smoky mineral notes across a long, savoury finish.

Charred swordfish with tomato, capers and olives has enough flavour without bullying the Nerello’s perfume. Grilled octopus with white beans, mushroom arancini, eggplant involtini or tuna with roasted peppers would also be excellent company. Serve it just below room temperature in a generous Burgundy glass and let Etna do its wonderfully strange volcanic thing.

Cellaring: Drink from 2028 to 2042.