Winemaker Notes
Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso is a ruby red color. Aromas of ripe fruits and sweet spices. On the palate the wine is fresh, fine balanced and rich. Very elegant.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Made with 98% Nerello Mascalese and 2% Nerello Cappuccio, the Tenuta delle Terre Nere 2022 Etna Rosso is an ample and ambitious production of 160,000 bottles. Fruit from the youngest vines is directed here and is selected from across the estate's holdings on the north-facing side of the volcano, where some of the best vineyards are located. With 14 months in French oak casks, the wine opens to a lean garnet appearance with aromas of pressed violet, cassis and Sicilian blood orange. It ends with balanced freshness over a mid-weight texture and a pop of bright cherry.
-
Vinous
Incredibly spicy, the 2022 Etna Rosso bursts from the glass with a wild bouquet of cloves and incense, giving way to dried cherries and sage. This is silky-smooth, with cooling acidity lifting its dense core of ripe red berry fruits as crunchy mineral tones resonate throughout. The 2022 finishes impossibly long and staining yet only gently tannic, leaving a lovely air of lavender and cloves that echoes on. Terre Nere continues to raise the bar with their Etna Rosso; it now has its own barrel-aging facility, which has allowed them to keep the wine in barrel between 14 to 16 months.
-
Wine Spectator
A fresh red, offering an open-knit, accessible feel. Yet there's focus and length, with integrated flavors of plumped raspberry, plum skin and mineral. Shows a touch of tobacco, with fine, taut tannins. Drink now through 2032. 11,000 cases made, 3,000 cases imported.
Extending across the variable volcanic soils of the slopes of Mt. Etna at some of the highest vineyard altitudes in all of Europe—up to 3,300 feet—Nerello Mascalese is one of Sicily’s most noble red varieties. It makes a beautifully aromatic, firm, cellar-worthy but pale-hued red often comparable to a fine Burgundy or Barbaresco. Somm Secret—Nerello Mascalese takes its name from the black color of its grapes, nerello, and the Mascali plain between Mt. Etna and the coast where it is believed to have originated.
A large, geographically and climatically diverse island, just off the toe of Italy, Sicily has long been recognized for its fortified Marsala wines. But it is also a wonderful source of diverse, high quality red and white wines. Steadily increasing in popularity over the past few decades, Italy’s fourth largest wine-producing region is finally receiving the accolades it deserves and shining in today's global market.
Though most think of the climate here as simply hot and dry, variations on this sun-drenched island range from cool Mediterranean along the coastlines to more extreme in its inland zones. Of particular note are the various microclimates of Europe's largest volcano, Mount Etna, where vineyards grow on drastically steep hillsides and varying aspects to the Ionian Sea. The more noteworthy red and white Sicilian wines that come from the volcanic soils of Mount Etna include Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Cappuccio (reds) and Carricante (whites). All share a racy streak of minerality and, at their best, bear resemblance to their respective red and white Burgundies.
Nero d’Avola is the most widely planted red variety, and is great either as single varietal bottling or in blends with other indigenous varieties or even with international ones. For example, Nero d'Avola is blended with the lighter and floral, Frappato grape, to create the elegant, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, one of the more traditional and respected Sicilian wines of the island.
Grillo and Inzolia, the grapes of Marsala, are also used to produce aromatic, crisp dry Sicilian white. Pantelleria, a subtropical island belonging to the province of Sicily, specializes in Moscato di Pantelleria, made from the variety locally known as Zibibbo.