White wines from Etna’s lofty slopes are a rare breed, most of the vineyard space being devoted to the first rate red variety, Nerello Mascalese. Although there are just a couple of producers with meaningful plantations of the white Carricante and Cataratto grapes, Terre Nere being the most prominent, the wines are capable of rivalling the reds for quality and interest. In 2019 Terre Nere have produced their most dazzling white vintage yet, a stunning array of truly unique, intense wines that are bursting with personality.
2019 will be remembered as a classic vintage yielding both very fine red wine and white wine. However, whilst other red vintages over the last twenty years are comparable, no other year gets close to 2019 for the whites. A warm but not hot summer, followed by cool and slow ripening in September lead to perfectly ripe grapes with good acidity levels. Furthermore the very low production, due to extensive coulure, provided concentration and length of flavour to these intense wines. In the word’s of proprietor and winemaker Marco de Grazia “Our Etna Bianco is hands down the finest ever crafted, whilst the Bianco Superiore is majestically austere, just marvellous.”
Read MoreTerre Nere’s 2019 Vintage Report
“The temperatures postponed the vegetative awakening and development which, by the end of May saw the leafing two weeks late with respect to average, the young vines were damaged by a May 8 frost. June was the month for recovery, warm and dry, with flowering occurring, at worst, a week late. Carricante’s natural vigour, however, matched with prolonged warmth and well hydrated soils, caused it to suffer from a coulure that was instrumental in lowering production in some vineyards up to 40-50%. On the other hand, the dry and warm June facilitated the yearly battle against mildew and oidium typical of that month, both of which were entirely absent. The season progressed into a warm July and August with very few peaks of heat. September was as perfect as one could wish for, wonderfully cool with a few refreshing rainfalls. Early October remained cool, favouring what I consider to be the finest Carricante harvest ever: small production, full ripeness, crisp acidity.
The new red Terre Nere vintage, 2018, will be released in October.
The wines are in stock and available for immediate delivery. If you would like to place an order, please contact your account manager or email finewine@justerinis.com. The price is listed under bond excluding duty and VAT. Orders over £300.00 inc. VAT qualify for free delivery anywhere in mainland UK. For deliveries to highlands and islands please contact us for a quote.