2014 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso- Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC (1/13/2018)
Wow, do I ever love this wine. Remove the (aggregate) cork, and this reveals wave after wave of soil, beautifully rich, deeply inflected soil. It takes a good 15 minutes in the glass for this to blow off, and what’s left is just stunning (again, just differently). Autumn woods, berry patch, tar-stained cranberry, fresh mushroom cap, citrus, lilac, etc. Medium-bodied, with immediate grip and presence on the palate, the finish sets off immediately into the distance. This seems to have it all: structure, balance, deep sense of place/grape, and character. Outstanding achievement, bravo! 14,0% abv., drink thru 2027+ highly recommended+
update * night 2 was slightly better, night 3 was just astoundingly good.
I have been drinking the 2015 over the past 3 nights- What a great wine- Not sure if its the volcanic soil or what but it is different and yet completely fantastic.
Interesting. I had the 2015 recently and thought it needed more time; simple on pop/pour but it improved with aeration becoming less candied and more minerally.
It is young, no doubt there, but for me ( I had not yet tried the wine in any vintage ) it was so different and had such a unique but lovely nose that it stirred up a-bit of excitement with me. I guess its about the context.
And to me, the 2014 had a candied profile when I tasted it, more so than prior vintages I had tasted. That, plus the fact that the crus have come down in price in my area, has led me to shift my focus to the single-vineyards. With that said, there’s no doubt the base bottling is a great bottle of wine for the price.
Yes, I picked up a bottle when I grabbed my allocation of single vineyard 2015s this week, the 16 Rosso is awesome, in fact I couldnt believe just how good it was for the price and went back and bought a case for the cellar.
I think 2016 could be quite special on Etna
Marcus, I picked one to try as well. The wine is shaping up great. The tannins are well present, which one would expect in a young etna, but looking beyond that the structure and aromatic complexity is well in place. 2016 seems to be looking good all over Italy.
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