Tanca Nica Terra Forte Terre Siciliane 2023

Tanca Nica Terra Forte Terre Siciliane 2023

Tanca Nica
$80.00

Grape: Zibibbo
Vintage: 2023
Type: Orange

In the Pantescan dialect, "Terra Forte" refers to soils that do not contain pumice, but rather very fine red sand, a breakdown of basalt and obsidian. This type of terroir is quite rare on Pantelleria. Only 1000 bottles are produced annually. 

Terra Forte is a blend of two contradas of very old vines. Bonsulton was planted in 1930 and also produces Tanca Nica's passito in the best vintages. Scirafi was planted in 1948.

Nicoletta hand-paints "Terra Forte" on each bottle.

Each of the two parcels is vinified individually. The grapes are harvested in the end of August and completely destemmed. The juice ferments on the skins for about ten days and ages in steel, fiberglass and chestnut barrels. S02 is added only during bottling (about 20 mg/L) which takes place in spring on a waning moon.

 

Tanca Nica is a tiny Pantelleria estate run by Francesco Ferreri and Nicoletta Bocca, working old bush vines on the island's black volcanic soils. Pantelleria is better known for sweet Passito di Pantelleria, but Tanca Nica explores a broader, wilder language for Zibibbo, Catarratto, Pignatello and other local grapes. Farming here is necessarily heroic: low alberello vines crouch against wind, drought and sun, often in small stone-walled parcels. The wines are made with minimal intervention and can be dry, macerated, salty and intensely Mediterranean, carrying caper, citrus peel, herbs, sea air and the isolation of the island.