Terre Nere Etna Rosso 2008Product #22395
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Color/Type Red Country/State Italy Price $10 - $30 Producer Terre Nere Region Sicily Varietal Other Vintage 2008 -
Mark de Grazia is best known as the guy who brings us some of Italy’s most delicious “big name” wines, but for the past few years, he and his wife Iano have become pretty good winemakers, too. Tenuta della Terre Nere sits on the slopes of Sicily’s Mount Etna at an altitude of 2,100 - 2,900 feet - some of Europe’s very highest elevation vineyards. The high elevation has allowed the de Grazias to work with some of Sicily’s most fascinating grapes - Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Mantellato. These need sunny, cool, and very long growing seasons to ripen properly, just what you get on the side of an active volcano in Sicily! Some of the Terre Nere vineyards date from before phylloxeraand most of the rest are 40-50 years old.
The Terre Nere Etna Rosso is what Wine Advocate has called, “a great introduction for readers who want to explore the wines of the Etna.” The wine opens with a generous nose of red cherry and raspberry fruit plus notes of flowers and spice. It’s elegant but generous in the mouth, with bright cherry fruit and hints of mineral, orange peel, and spice. The wine is sort of a cross between a riper Nebbiolo from Piemonte and a fresh young Burgundy. All too easy to glug down tonight!
