Elegance Under Pressure
Some wines are born of grace, others of grit. The 2023 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Bianco is both—an elegant survivor from a vintage that frankly had no business producing anything this good.
Let’s set the scene: Winter barely showed up, spring flooded the vineyards like a broken showerhead, downy mildew swept through Etna like a biblical plague, and then—just to round out the drama—a hot, dry summer with barely a drop of water in sight. We’re talking less than 60mm of rain from July to September. The vines were parched, confused, and a little bit cranky.
And yet, somehow, against all odds and meteorological misfortune, Marco de Grazia and his team pulled off what feels suspiciously like alchemy. The 2023 Etna Bianco isn’t just good. It’s glorious. This isn’t marketing hyperbole—it’s bafflingly good, even by the estate’s high standards.
Credit the old vines. Credit the volcanic soil. Credit the slightly obsessive attention to vineyard management that borders on spiritual practice. Or maybe credit Carricante, the backbone of this blend, which flowered early and skipped the spring chaos altogether like it knew better. Whatever the reason, what’s in the bottle is a masterclass in balance, clarity, and quiet confidence.
The wine is a blend of native Sicilian varietals—Carricante, Catarratto, Inzolia, Grecanico, and Minnella—most of which are old enough to have seen several popes and at least two different iPhones. The grapes come from a patchwork of plots on Etna’s cooler, north-facing slopes, between 600 and 900 meters above sea level. The soils are volcanic, obviously. The vines are farmed organically, of course. The whole place operates like a slow, considered conversation between man and mountain.
What really stands out in this vintage is the wine’s energy and precision. You’d expect a hot year to give us something flabby or overripe, but no—this is taut, mineral, and alive. The acidity hums. The alcohol is perfectly in check. There’s texture, but it’s silk, not weight. A wine that doesn’t shout, but somehow makes the whole room quiet down.
We’ve got a limited allocation this year (as you’d expect from a vintage that gave us roughly half the usual crop), and we’re offering it now to those who understand that sometimes the most compelling wines are born under pressure.
Let me know how much you’d like to secure—we don’t expect this to hang around.
95 Points, James Suckling
This has a restrained white-pepper and mineral character, lemon bush and pulp. On the palate, the acidity is firmly integrated with citrus, flint, concentrated fruit and a medium to full body. The finish is supersavory and tense. Drinkable now but will improve with age.
