ETNA ROSSO DOC "CALDERARA SOTTANA" 2018 - TENUTA DELLE TERRE NERE

Denomination: Etna Rosso Doc

Vintage: 2018

Alcohol: 14.5%

Region: Sicily (Italy)

Format: 0.75%

Grape varieties: Nerello Mascalese 100%

The lands of Calderara Sottana are easily recognisable, even at a glance. Of all the Etna DOC crus they are certainly the stonyest. So much so that in the exemplary areas you cannot see the ground from the stones that are there. Big as a fist, light, a mix of black pumice and basalt.
The word itself, Calderara, recalls heat, probably born from the warmth that the black stones retain and transmit back to the earth on cold nights.
The terroir of the Contrada Calderara was originated from lava flows and volcanoclastic deposits relating to the effusive and explosive activity of the Elliptical eruptive center, approximately between 60,000 and 15,000 years ago. Although very young in geological terms, the soil of the Elliptical is the oldest surface layer where planting is possible. The reason is simple: millennia of lava flows have buried the oldest soils, leaving, in fact, only small and rare portions of the Elliptical soil. On the northern side of Etna there are five or six Contrade that have “Elliptical terroir”. Three soils, however, are spurious, as the igneous nature of the Elliptical was mixed with alluvial soils of a sedimentary nature due to the overflowing of the Alcantara river. On the northern side of Etna only three Contrade out of hundreds and hundreds are "pure" Elliptical terroir: Bocca d'Orzo, Calderara and San Lorenzo.
The altitude varies from 600 to 700 meters. The harvest takes place in the second ten days of October. Locally Calderara and its wines enjoy an extraordinary reputation. Our Calderara Sottana is the result of very old vineyards, from 50 to 100 years of age. Of all our crus it is perhaps the most complete: just as a wide-angle lens includes the widest panorama, so our Calderara seems to contain and exhibit the widest spectrum of flavours, aromas and nuances. Distinctly autumnal, spicy, it is aromatic and austere at the same time. It gives a wonderful sensation of fullness on the palate, but ineffably light.
Don Peppino, whose devotion to Calderara pushed him to cultivate its vineyards for 70 years, describes Calderara wines well: "creamy", he called them. And he was right. Noble poultry, white meat ragout, pork loin, milk pork, rabbit in white wine, baked lamb.