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

Denomination: Etna Rosso Doc

Vintage: 2018

Alcohol: 14.5%

Region: Sicily (Italy)

Size: 0.75%

Grapes: Nerello Mascalese 100%

The soils of Calderara Sottana are easily recognizable, even at a glance. Of all the crus of the Etna DOC they are certainly the most stony. So much so that in the exemplary areas you can't see the ground from the stones that are there. Big as a fist, light, a mixture 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 volcano-clastic deposits related to the effusive and explosive activity of the Elliptic eruptive center, approximately between 60,000 and 15,000 years ago. Although very young in geological terms, the soil of the Elliptic is the oldest surface layer where it is possible to plant. The reason is simple: millennia of lava flows have buried the most ancient soils, leaving, in fact, only small and rare portions of the soil of the Elliptic. On the north side of Etna there are five or six Contrade that have “elliptical terroir”. Three terrains, however, are spurious, as the igneous nature of the Elliptic is mixed with alluvial soils of a sedimentary nature due to the overflow of the Alcantara river. On the north side of Etna only three Contrade out of hundreds and hundreds are “pure” Ellittico 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 flavors, 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 drove him to cultivate its vines for 70 years, describes Calderara's wines well: “creamy”, he called them. And he was right. Noble poultry, white meat ragù, pork loin, pork in milk, rabbit in white wine, lamb in the oven.