Features

The legislative decree N° 61 of April 8th 2010, all the wines D.O.C. and D.O.C.G. had to merge into the P.D.O. denomination, with the possibility to maintain the D.O.C. and D.O.C.G. "old" denominations.

Marco De Grazia with Tenuta delle Terre Nere produces wines since 2002 on the northern slops of Etna volcano, Sicily region.

A very difficult territory in terms of climate, pedology of soils, large temperature ranges, grapes cultivation, accentuated rainfall compared to the typical Sicilian climate.
At the same time, this is a choice terroir for important wines.
This is the area of Etna D.O.C. and its grape varieties as Nerello Mascalese above all for red wines and Carricante and Cataratto for white wines.
The Marco De Grazia wines are closely linked to the districts "contrade".
Here, the term 'Contrada' is declared and legally recognised, as a historical sub-area, a part of the territory, even a small one, but with differences in terms of soil, climate, exposure: all those elements give important characters and notes to each grape variety. Moganazzi, Guardiola, Calderara Sottana are some of those "contrade".

The vineyards of "Tenuta delle Terre Nere" ("Black earth estate") are situated between 600 and 900 mt. above sea level.
The vines are basically old from 40-100 of age with some vineyard of young vines.
In the vineyards, there is still a lot of manual skill as if it were a kind of respect for each product of the nature.

The aim of Tenuta delle Terre Nere is to find the vineyard in each kind of wine, that is, to find recognised elements derived from each soil and each vine.
Finding a balance in wines in such a harsh environment can only come from careful, meticulous work and knowledge and sensitivity, qualities that characterise the work of Marco De Grazia.