Cantina di Lorenzo Anfosso “E Prie”

Tucked into the hills of Soldano at 250 to 300 meters above sea level, Lorenzo Anfosso farms just barely one hectare of vines on jagged marl and schist terraces, perched between two of the finest cru sites of Dolceacqua: Ai Pini and Fulavin.

The vineyards of Dolceacqua were built by the Romans on impossibly steep cliffsides and have clung to the rocks for over 25 centuries. Today, this ancient landscape — once home to more than 3,000 hectares of vines before phylloxera devastated the region, and now reduced to roughly 90 hectares — is kept alive by a handful of dedicated growers willing to do the backbreaking work these terraces demand.

Lorenzo is the youngest of them. He started making his own wines at just 18 years old, and his tiny cantina — named E Prie, meaning “the stones” in the local Ligurian dialect — reflects both his deep roots in the land and his singular focus: Rossese di Dolceacqua, an intensely aromatic, ancient grape known as Tibouren just across the border in Provence, prized for its earthy, garrigue-laced character.