2021 Tenuta delle Terre Nere 'Dagala di Bocca d'Orzo' Etna Rosso
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The 2021 Etna Rosso Dagala di Bocca d'Orzo unleashes a spice-box bouquet as dried orange peels, cloves, cardamom and anise give way to wild strawberries and mint. “Ethereal” is the word, as it flows across the palate like fine silk, slowly mounting with youthful tension as tart red berries and minerals slowly saturate. The 2021 finishes with a tannic crunch, yet long and potent, leaving a staining of primary concentration. Sour citrus and inner rose tones mingle through the dramatic finale.
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Decanter World Wine Awards
Neal Martin (Vinous)
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Proudly stating ‘Monopole’ on the bottle, Marco De Grazia explains that historically, Bocca D'Orzo was considered one of the best of all Etna's contradas, but was almost completely buried by the eruption of 1981. In 2017, he discovered an outcrop of the original soil, surrounded by the lava flow but untouched, planted with Nerello Mascalese. After negotiations with the owners, he was able to purchase the 0.5ha site and, with the first vintage in 2019, added ‘Dagala’ to the name of the contrada on the label, meaning ‘island’ in Sicilian dialect. Fresh, fragrant and deep, this 2021 has wonderful, intense, earthy aromas of wild strawberry, raspberry, red and black cherry and wild herbs. Concentrated, textured and vertical, it is itself an island – a core of ripe fruit carved out by a wash of fresh acidity. The mid-palate is very stony, while the purity of the red and black fruits carries through to a long, herbal, slightly balsamic finish. Poised, sapid and timeless.