Marco de Grazia founded Terre Nere in 2002 and since the beginning his wines have been world-class. Marco was fascinated with the wine from Mt Etna’s bizarre landscape with the black soils and from the introverted people who harvested there from some of the lowest yields of gnarled ancient wine trees. Labor was (and is) intensive. That's why back then, there were barely twenty wineries left. Today there are ten times as many wineries and wine from Etna is in highly sought after.
The Terre Nere winery is located on the northern slopes of the volcano, between Solicchiata and Randazzo and this is where the magic happens.
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The White Wines:
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2019 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Bianco Superiore
In 2019 Marco was able to buy a very small but very fine property at the perfect altitude. It has very good exposure to ensure consistent ripeness in such a difficult climate. The terraced stone walls were rebuilt by hand, its terraces replanted. This Bianco Superiore is a sharp wine, lean, severe and aristocratic, it stands as a wonderful expression of Etna’s Carricante (which this wine is: 100%).
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2019 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Bianco Cuvée delle Vigne Niche Montalto
This vineyard location, Montalto or “high mountain” has a magnificent exposure and is always refreshed by healthy breezes at 950 meters altitude. A full South exposure guarantees fabulous balance and ripening in this 100% Carricante wine. The first vintage of this wine, a pearl, the best vintage of Etna Bianco since 2001. A very graceful wine with beautiful aromatics and exquisite balance.
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2019 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Bianco Cuvée delle Vigne Niche Calderara Sottana
Caldera Sottana is the steepest and hardest rocky vineyard: volcanic ash, black pumice stone and solid volcanic rock. To get here you really are mountain climbing. These Carricante vines are nearly 100 years old. Marco made this wine for the first time in 2007, after having had the fortune of tasting a 42 year old Carricante from the East side of the Etna. So beautiful it was, so vigorous and impeccable in its venerable age, that he was moved to produce something like it. This gorgeous wine is the result. Stunning with unfathomable complexity, vibrant, stony, minerally, and lush.
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The Red Wines:
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2018 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso Santo Spirito
An outstandingly beautiful location, Santo Spirito, with gentle wide terraces. The soil is deep rich volcanic ash. Santo Spirito’s wines are luscious and sensual, always seductive in their almost fleshy bouquet, and in their buttermilk richness. And yet there’s still a balance and purity here, very sophisticated, yes, but tender as well. Generous and vulnerable at once. Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Lady.
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2018 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso Calderara Sottana
Calderara Sottana is a single vineyard wine produced only from vineyards between 50-100 years old. Of all Terre Nere’s single vineyard wines it is perhaps the most complete: much like a wide angle lens encompasses the most ample panorama. Calderara seems to contain and display the widest spectrum of flavors, bouquets, nuances. Floral and spicy, leathery and aromatic, it delivers a wonderful filling sensation on the palate, yet stepping lightly. Don Peppino, whose devotion to Calderara led him to work these vineyards for seventy years, best describes the wines of Calderara: they are “creamy”, he says. And he’s right. Poultry, red meats, game, pasta, pecorino and bread.
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2018 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso Moganazzi
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The Moganazzi vineyard, aesthetically superb, is entirely and steeply terraced at roughly 700 metres altitude with 80 year old vines. The entire production is roughly 3,000 bottles plus some magnums. The wine is brilliant: tightly woven texture, with a luminous and athletic character, a youthful grip and all the effortless beauty of a Greek sculpture. With age the wine’s fine drive gives way to a soft suppleness, a sustained sunset richness; intimate and resounding.
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2018 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso San Lorenzo
This San Lorenzo wine is from 4 hectares of vineyards in the same named district in the town of Randazzo. The vines are more than 70 years and the altitude is 750 meters above sea level, the soil is almost pure volcanic sand. The small bunches of Nerello Mascalese produce complex, finely structured and elegant red wines that are among the best in the region.
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This 7-pack of Cru Mt Etna wines from one of the very best wineries on the volcano is extremely limited.
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Call or email 805.568.1961 to reserve yours
and we'll have it ready ASAP for curbside pickup or delivery
(in store pick up is an option. We are keeping our regular hours but limiting the shopping experience to two households at a time).
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We have a very special holiday pricing on these wines:
$375 if purchased separately
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but while in stock we've dropped the price to $325 for the Terre Nere 7-pack.
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