Tenuta delle Terre Nere is the result of over forty years of passion and work in the world of fine wines. An extraordinary place – on this island within the island that is Etna. With respect, care and hard farm work, always in organic balance. The estate’s philosophy is simple. Given an extreme climate, in order to obtain the best and most consistent ripening, our attention must focus on vineyard management. The finest workmanship in all aspects of viticulture is the first thing that sets us apart. And what enables us, bringing home exceptionally fine grapes, not to be invasive in our cellar work. A work best described as aimed above all at expressing the character of our varieties in their specific terroir.

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 volcano, approximately between 60,000 and 15,000 years ago. Although very young in geological terms, the Elliptic soil is the oldest surface layer where it is possible to plant in the appellation. The reason is simple: millennia of lava flows have buried the oldest 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 Contradas that have “elliptical terroir”. Three of them, 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 Contradas are “pure” elliptical terroir: Bocca d’Orzo, Calderara and San Lorenzo.