Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna wines

I read favourable reviews of the Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna wines on Wineberserkers and decided to get and try some. I tasted the two reds together ...

• 2012 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Bianco 91 Points

  Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC

  A friend served me this wine double blind and I did not get it. I couldn't place it geographically. Southern Rhone, Spain and then Southern Italy, I, in turn, wondered? I also found it hard to get past the wine's lactic, cheesy bouquet and flavours. Drinking a bottle however my view has changed markedly ...
  
  Colour golden, the wine is viscous and limpid. I now find the nose intriguing, the creamy cheese or sour butter element is still prominent but there are also notes of grapefruit, papaya, white flowers including daisies, a salty seashells Chablis-like component (but the bouquet and palate are of course much too rich to be confused with Chablis), with aromas of limes and mandarin peel. Multi-dimensional. On palate the initial impression is lactic, a cheese-like ricotta or a sour cream. Then minerals and chalk flavours, with a pinch of salinity. Then papaya, rock melon and a little pineapple. Good fruit weight, a creamy, thick, unctuous mouthfeel. Good structure and enough acidity to provide some cut. Good length. Quite interesting. I'd give another one 3-4 years cellar time. Excellent QPR, of course.

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• 2011 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso 91 Points

  Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC

  Deep red. Attractive savoury, tart nose of strawberries, raspberries, pipe tobacco and crushed, dried herbs, with some chalk, wet stone and minerals. On the palate, tart and savoury flavours, with some minerals on the back palate. The flavours are cranberries, tart red and dark cherries, dried herbs, tobacco, with hints of chalk and crushed wet granite. A little below medium weight, refreshing with a good acid cut, slightly puckering on the back palate. Fine grained tannins. My only issue was that on the second glass I picked up a little more alcohol than I would ideally have liked (14.5% on the label), but I decided the fruit carried it well enough. Actually richer, with more dry extract than is your first impression. Tasted blind, I might well have mistaken this for a Côte de Beaune Burgundy. Drinking very well now but will cellar, I would imagine, for the medium term. Excellent price for this quality and interest.

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• 2011 Tenuta delle Terre Nere Etna Rosso PrePhylloxera La Vigna di Don Peppino 93 Points

  Italy, Sicily, Etna DOC

  Slightly deeper ruby colour than the regular label. A pure, high toned nose with more upfront minerals and chalk, small red berries including cranberries, dark cherries and blackberries, with some dried herbs, that reminded me in some ways of a Fourrier Griotte. But with hints of espresso and dark roses you might not expect on a Burgundy bouquet. A relatively sweet entry to the palate, but the savoury and mineral flavours take over in the mid and back palates. Quite complex. The old vines express themselves in richness, much more serious depth and power than in the regular label. A really well balanced wine, vibrant with excellent acidity and suave, fine tannins. The 14.5% alcohol is not out of place. The flavours are red and dark berries, some earth, dried herbs, chalk and granite. Again Burgundy-like to some extent but, to me, closer to a good Barbaresco. Again, quite accessible now but this wine will cellar medium term, I'd imagine. Again good QPR, I'd pay the extra for the Prephylloxera another time.

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