What a delightful expression of Spanish Garnacha! It pours a pale ruby colour, like a vermilion watercolour wash, but it’s not wishy-washy. It’s so perfumed and delicate, like a cross between a young Beaujolais and a Tenerife red, yet with plenty of fruit intensity to give it depth too. Cherry dominates the aromas and the flavours, but there are also hints of orange, pink peppercorn, flint and cool graphite (I’m thinking pencil lead). If you like perky and perfumed grape varieties like Pinot Noir, Gamay, Nerello Mascalese, Païs or Trousseau, then do give this a try, especially with a plate of charcuterie. Can be drunk slightly chilled. 13.5% alc. 7 months in oak. Drink now-2028.

Press review:

Decanter (previous vintage): “This bright, juicy Garnacha Tinta (with 5% Garnacha Blanca) is lovely to serve slightly chilled alongside platters of charcuterie at a picnic. Named after El Garbi, the warm African wind that blows through the vineyard in cool Terra Alta, it's packed with vibrant cherry fruit, dusted with spice. Fresh acidity balances the soft tannins for a crisp finish. Drink now-2027.” 91 points

Featured in Decanter’s ‘Top Red Wines to Chill’ (June 2024).

Customer comments:

“I could drink gallons of this! Beautiful!” - Mr W.B.

"I just tried the Garbi. It is superb. Another gem you and Lucia have unearthed!" - Mr A.D-W.

“A wine that strums my heartstrings.” - Tamlyn Currin for JancisRobinson.com

This is a terrific wine from Marco de Grazia of Tenuta delle Terre Nere, who, in 2006, was offered two small parcels on Mount Etna in the crus of Feudo di Mezzo and Moganazzi, which were too small to blend into Terre Nerre’s cuvees, and so this project was born, named after his daughter, Eli, whose crayon drawings have adorned the labels ever since, changing each year as she grows up. It has the gorgeous aromas that we look for in proper Etna Rosso, with that telltale note of peach fuzz and apricot skin, as well as dried cherries and whetstone, plumped up on the palate by sweeter flavours of pomegranate and wild strawberry. 13% alc. 12 months on 20% new oak. Drink now-2027.

Press review:

JancisRobinson.com: “Licking terracotta tiles on a hot summer day after a thunderstorm; eating small red cherries fallen onto an old, crumbling stone wall; pomegranate seeds crushed between rough concrete. Transparent as stained glass, rugged as weathered brick. Incense and under-log earthy; crushed radicchio and soft triangles and columbine-scented five-pointed stars of flavour of earth and flower and root and fruit and stone. A wine that strums my heartstrings… (TC). Drink now-2027.“ 17.5 points

Customer comment:

“I have popped the Etna Rosso La Vigne di Eli and have to say it’s lovely, light, refreshing and invigorating in equal measure, and your tasting note is absolutely spot on.” - Mr A.H.

“Terre Nere continues to raise the bar with their Etna Rosso.” - Vinous

A delicious and characterful Nerello Mascalese from the northern slopes of Mount Etna, which articulates its origins as eloquently as a Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon or a Northern Rhone Syrah articulate theirs. The aromas are classic Etna Rosso, a heady cocktail of shiny red fruits, peach fuzz, raspberry and pumice stone. That volcanic minerality brings a slight tannic austerity to the fruit and a suggestion of smooth grey pebbles, but it’s not drying, because the fruit is ample, so you sense the pit as well as the cherry, the stone as well as the plum. 14% alc. Organic (certified). Drink now-2030.

Organic (certified)

Press review:

Vinous (previous vintage): “The 2023 Etna Rosso seduces with a burst of ripe cherries, cloves and sweet rose aromas. This is an energetic and wickedly fresh effort with a cascade of wild berry fruit and crunchy mineral tones that flow beneath an air of violet inner florals. A coating of fine tannins frames the finish without slowing its momentum as this tapers off with amazing length and a saturation of raspberry. The 2023 aims to please. Drink now-2029” 92 points