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Bodegas Gratias

Terra Orange 2018

Price: $43.95
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Tasting notes

Terra is one of very few wines in the world made from 100% Tardana with full skin contact, sourced from a plot yielding roughly 200 bottles per year. The extended clay-vessel maceration pulls out dried apricot, orange peel, and honey from a grape variety most people have never heard of, with a gritty tannic texture that is more Skin-contact Friuli than anything you would expect from inland Spain.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
Dried ApricotOrange PeelHoneyAlmond
  • Style: Amber orange wine; 100% Tardana; clay vessel fermentation; dried apricot, orange peel, honey; 13% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Tardana; ~70-year-old bush vines; Villatoya, Manchuela; ~800m elevation; white clay and calcareous limestone; certified ICEA biodynamic; dry-farmed; 1 kg/plant
  • Winemaking: Spontaneous fermentation in clay tinaja; 4 months on lees in tinaja; unfined, unfiltered, no cold stabilization; ~15ppm total sulfur; ~200 bottles produced
  • Serving: Serve at 55-60F; 20 min open before pouring; wide-bowled glass or large tumbler works well
  • Pairing: Aged Manchego, Idiazabal, roasted chicken with saffron, grilled fish with romesco, cured charcuterie
  • Similar To: For fans of skin-contact Friulano, Georgian amber wines, or Gravner-style Ribolla who want something from inland Spain

Terra is a 100% Tardana orange wine from Bodegas Gratias, sourced from a single plot called Camino Basillas (Los Bancales) in the village of Villatoya, Manchuela. The north-facing vines are approximately 70 years old, bush-trained, dry-farmed, and certified ICEA biodynamic. The vineyard sits at around 800 meters elevation on white clay and calcareous limestone soils, and yields are kept to roughly 1 kg per plant.

Tardana is a nearly extinct late-ripening white grape native to the Utiel-Requena and Manchuela border area. Its thick skin is the reason Terra exists: when Gratias noticed how much flavor remained locked in the skins after pressing their Tardana for their white wine Sol, they began fermenting with extended skin contact in clay tinajas (amphora) instead. The grapes for Terra are harvested later than those for Sol, sometimes as late as November, giving the skins maximum ripeness before maceration.

Fermentation is spontaneous with indigenous yeasts, conducted entirely in clay tinajas. The wine ages on its lees for 4 months in tinaja, then is bottled unfined, unfiltered, with no cold stabilization. Total sulfur is reported at approximately 15ppm. Annual production is around 200 bottles.

The result is amber-colored with noticeable tannic grip from the extended clay-vessel maceration, balanced by lively acidity and concentrated aromatics of apricot, orange peel, honey, and white stone fruit.

The tannic grip and oxidative character of Terra pair well with dishes that can match its weight: aged Manchego or Idiazabal, roasted chicken with saffron, or grilled fish with a romesco sauce. It also works alongside cured charcuterie or a board of nuts and dried fruit. Serve at 55-60F to keep the acidity bright.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Orange Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Tardana
Farming:, Organic and Biodynamic
Vintage:, 2018
Alcohol:, 13%
Country:, Spain
Region:, Manchuela
Appellation:, Non-denominated Manchuela
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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Placed an order. What next?

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2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Bodegas Gratias

Bodegas Gratias was founded in 2007 by two couples — José and Silvia, and Iván and Ana — all four trained enologists, in Casas-Ibáñez, province of Albacete, Manchuela. The project began when the group made a small batch of wine from an old vineyard plot belonging to Iván's family. The wine turned out well, and they made their first commercial bottling the following year.

The winery works approximately 10 hectares of exclusively indigenous grape varieties, split between estate-owned parcels and plots rented from local farmers. All vines are bush-trained, dry-farmed, and untilled, ranging from 30 to 100 years old. The winery holds ICEA biodynamic certification. Their focus is on preserving nearly extinct local varieties, including Tardana and Pintaíllo, as well as Bobal. Gratias has secured four of the five remaining old-vine Tardana plots in Villatoya.

In the cellar, all grapes are hand-harvested and fermented with indigenous yeasts. Sulfite additions are minimal, with most wines finishing at around 15ppm total sulfur. Winemaking vessels include clay tinajas, stainless steel tanks, and old oak barrels depending on the wine. Terra is fermented and aged entirely in clay tinajas, bottled without fining, filtration, or cold stabilization.

Wine region

Manchuela, Spain

Manchuela is a DO in the eastern part of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain, situated between the valleys of the Júcar and Cabriel rivers, approximately 75 miles west of Valencia. Vineyards sit at 600 to 1,000 meters above sea level on high plateaus and steep river terraces. The climate is continental — hot, dry summers and cold winters — but moderated by nocturnal winds from the Levant coast, which reduce temperature swings and lower disease pressure. Soils are predominantly clay with a high limestone content over a calcareous base, retaining moisture in an otherwise arid landscape.

Manchuela gained its own DO in 2004, separating from the larger La Mancha appellation. The dominant red grape is Bobal, a thick-skinned variety well suited to the dry conditions and old bush-vine cultivation. White grapes are a small fraction of plantings; Tardana (also called Planta Nova) is the indigenous white variety most associated with the Utiel-Requena and Manchuela border zone, and it is increasingly rare. Bodegas Gratias sources its Tardana from the village of Villatoya, a small settlement at the border of Manchuela and Utiel-Requena, where a handful of old plots still exist.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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