Stanza Terrena
STANZA TERRENA
STANZA TERRENA
Giuseppe ‘Mezzaluna¹’ Grasso left a budding career in chess boxing to become a producer of soulful Etna wines. This dichotomy of chess boxing is also his approach at Santo Spirito: to harness Etna’s raw power by neither simplistic traps or tricks, but rather by his own careful tactics and strategies. As we talked in his cellar recently, he confessed his desire “to bottle the soul of Santo Spirito…that convergence of wind and sun and black volcanic soil that encircles our family’s centenarian and bi-centenarian [200 years old] vines.” If you haven’t figured it out already, Giuseppe really enjoys cellar work as much as the vineyard.
The Grasso family began making wine five generations ago in the late 1800’s. After enology degree and various experiences
with foreign producers, Giuseppe started his new project Stanza Terrena, literally ‘Earthly Room,’ which signifies the cellar where, Giuseppe underlines, “Etna’s raw material is bottled.” His first bottling was the 2019 vintage from a total of five hectares. He was right away encouraged by his long-time friend and Etna producer Massimiliano Calabretta to accomplish his poetical goals, without capitulating to mediocrity or overtly stylish wines. He respected the family’s tradition of making wines; yet, he just became more thoughtful about making wines that required more observing, experimenting and tasting. He’s also keeping his crazy edge about him…
