I had a fabulous time at Cantina TerraCruda! Seriously! Even though I was tasting wines at 9:30 a.m. and felt dizzy after 8th glass! OK, let’s start from the beginning: I asked my hosts from Marche Holiday about a good local winery and they told me about TerraCruda in Fratterosa. And they were right about this choice, by all means!
Location
Fratterosa is beautiful! A very small village, in the middle of vineyards and gentle hills seems a perfect place for any business. The view from hills takes your breath away. In May vegetation is lush and the green is so fresh that its saturation is hard to believe. Landscape around this place is a dream of every tourist who visits Italy. Obviously, only people you will meet here are the locals and Italians spending their holiday in Marche which makes it even more beautiful. And definitely authentic.
Terracruda, vineyard, Marche, Italy
Not only wines
After a while of contemplating the surrounding I entered the building of a tasting room. What struck me from the first moment was an outstanding interior design. The building is a recently constructed structure with two glass walls at each end which makes the tasting experience overwhelming. A nice young lady welcomed me with a wide smile and a fascinating story to tell. The company TerraCruda is a family business which is nothing special in the area. However, their main focus has been and still is furniture design. Seriously. They design, produce and sell furnitures. Luxury ones. Very pretty. Apart their love to modern furnitures they were owners of a 10 ha vinery and were producing wine at small scale. About 10 years ago they bought another 10 ha of land and planted it with traditional and new varieties of grapes. At the same time they were upgrading the production process and as a result they produce and sell excellent wine today.
Wines
In oder to stand out of crowd TerraCruda focused their effort on quality. It was explained to me that to get an outstanding quality they do all work manually and they wash grapes more carefully than others. This is the reason why their rose wine is so exquisite – they keep it with peel much longer than others, and the wine is not spoiled because of clearness of the grapes used. Recently, their wines won few important awards and the brand has started to be widely recognized.
Cantina Terracruda, Marche
White, red, rose, spumante and visciola are produced in the winery. A very special local history is related to the last one: visciola. Its particular sweet cherry taste derives from keeping it with cherries for a while. And – as they say – famous duke Federico from Urbino liked it very much. I tasted it and I must say it is delicious. A variety of wines is impressive here: each kind has few types depending on age and production process. You have youngest and most basic wines that are suitable for everyday meals, up to high class, well structured ones.
Tasting
This was my first wine tasting ever. At first I felt intimidated with the knowledge of a sommelier. Fortunately, she was nice and patient with me and she explained me everything in few simple steps. I must say, that wines tasted one after another are very different. I knew I should spill it away after every glass tasted but…I didn’t. I thought that if I’m not driving that day than it is quite OK if I sip some of them. Perhaps this is a reason why I arrived at the point when I could not process any information shared by sommelier. Full saturation with knowledge shared. So at the end I bought a large box of wines I tasted and started my way back home.
It looks like I need more practice if I want to do it regularly…
Cantina Terracruda, Marche, Italy
Events
TerraCruda is an example of not only a marvelous family business and being visionary about combining few strands under one brand. They are also excellent in terms of sustaining ties with local community and modern events organization. All cutlery used in their tasting room comes from a local producer of terracotta Daniele Giombi. His pots, amphorae and plates are just a perfect final touch of this exquisite interior design.
Awards won by Cantina Terracruda, Marche, Italy
Just after my visit in vineyard they were organizing an ‘open day’ to the local people so they could taste and appreciate their wines. A concert and few other attractions were in a programme so during my stay in a tasting room all employers were running around fixing last minute stuff. What I would love to participate one day is their Cene in vigna. Dinner in a vineyard under the stars in a warm and gentle air should be fun! I hope to come back to Cantina TerreCrude one day and participate it one day!
Disclosure: I was provided with a discount when I bought few bottles of wine in Cantina for which I am truly grateful.
I love Ferrara – alternative way to spend your holiday
Have you ever thought about visiting Italy? Here is an alternative way on how to visit Italy and get really close to the Italian way of life. I created a project ‘I love Ferrara‘ so you could join me and experience how beautiful and tasty Ferrara is. If you wish to immerse in Italy book your holiday now!
