About
The Mystical Spell of Mount Etna, Sicily It all began with a glass of wine in a downtown Chicago restaurant. A single sip from a bottle of Etna Rosso stopped us mid-conversation. It wasn’t from France—it was from a volcano. From Mount Etna, Sicily. The wine came from a tiny vineyard called Guardiola Contrada, high on the northern slopes of of a live volcano. The moment we tasted it, we felt it calling to us. The same call that had drawn Marco de Grazia to these slopes two decades earlier—so powerful, he never left. Marco followed his vision to craft high-quality cru wines from Mount Etna’s ancient, terraced vineyards. We followed ours to find the source. Today, we meet at Terre Nere—where lava, light, and philosophy meet together with the wine. Terre Nere is the Burgundy of Sicily, not just in spirit, but in structure: site-specific wines from micro-terroirs, classified and crafted with elegance and precision. Here, wine is more than a drink. It’s a dialogue with the mountain.
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People
Marco de Grazia didn’t just plant vines—he planted vision. When he arrived in 2000, the region was barely known beyond its bulk wine. But he saw what others didn’t: the old vines, the terraces, the altitude, the microclimates, the centuries of viticultural history—just waiting to be awakened. A passionate ambassador for Mount Etna, Marco has led with intuition, curiosity, and reverence. He insisted on vinifying tiny parcels separately, long before “micro-vinification” was a buzzword. He recognized early that Etna’s volcanic slopes could yield wines of extraordinary finesse and complexity. His philosophy is simple, yet profound: make wines that are true to place, approachable young, but capable of aging for decades. Wines that speak in the language of the land. “We give the best of ourselves in quest, not of perfection, but of the ideal bond between what nature gives us and that which our sensitivity, experience and imagination suggests.” – Marco de Grazia
Sicily
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Italy
Place
Mount Etna is a living volcano, still breathing ash and life into the soils that nourish Terre Nere’s vines. Etna’s slopes are a lasagna of lava flows layered across centuries, each with a unique mineral fingerprint. Elevations reach 1,000 meters, where air is thin and the vines dig deep. This wild, elemental terrain is home to some of Europe’s oldest ungrafted vines—many pre-phylloxera. Each contrada—or vineyard parcel—has its own voice. Terre Nere listens. With more than 100 micro-plots across 11 vineyards, every wine is born of its own soil, altitude, exposure, and story. No place is treated the same, because no place is the same. This is not mass production. It’s a master class in terroir, where farming is organic, vinification is minimal, and expression is everything.
Culture
Terre Nere isn’t just a winery. It’s a philosophy in practice. The winery doesn’t chase trends. It honors tradition while quietly revolutionizing what Sicilian wine can be. Marco de Grazia introduced the idea of “Grand Cru” and “Premier Cru” to Etna—long before any official classification—because he knew not all soils are created equal. The inspiration? Burgundy. And yet, there’s something undeniably Sicilian here—untamed, mystical, magnetic. This classification wasn’t handed down—it was earned. Through care, vision, and humility. While others chased volume, Marco pursued nuance. He believed wine could carry the spirit of a mountain. Today, it does. This is where art, science, and heart collide. Etna is not tamed. It’s translated—by a winemaker treating every vintage with humility, with reverence, and with the goal of making Etna proud.
