Tenuta di Fessina Etna Bianco ‘A Puddara’ 2017

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

The Etna wine region is a truly magical place. Located on the slopes of Europe’s largest active volcano, it presents a fascinating and challenging environment to grow and make wine. Its past as a wine producing region is imbued with important history and customs. However, as Etna enters a new era of fine winemaking, it brims with potential for innovation.

Tenuta di Fessina treads the fine line between innovation and tradition superbly. Founded by Silvia Maestrelli, one of the first female winemakers on the volcano, Tenuta di Fessina not only explores the potential of Etna’s terroir, but also the region’s unique ecosystem and biodiversity. The estate’s approach to winegrowing is established on respect for this environment, producing wines in a modern style while still capturing Etna’s unique sense of place and winemaking heritage.

This just scratches the surface of what makes Tenuta di Fessina such a fascinating winemaking project. To go deeper, watch the video below and take a virtual tour of this amazing part of the world.

About Tenuta Fessina

Silvia Maestrelli has created a winery with a focus on producing the native varieties in their natural habitat, Nerello and Nero d’Avola for the reds, and Carricante for the superb Etna Bianco, these wines are crafted by the land not the maker

Founded in 2007 by winemaker Silvia Maestrelli, her husband, Roberto Silva, and winemaker Federico Curtaz, the Fessina Estate is located in the small village of Rovittello, about eight miles east of Randazzo. Given its distinct location, the terroir of the vineyards is composed of centuries-old lava deposits that yield strikingly individual wines in a class by themselves. In addition to the main estate, the winery includes two additional vineyards — a tribute to Sicily’s incredibly fertile, boun-tiful landscape. Tenuta di Fessina is a testament to the beauty and splendor of its surroundings: the magnificence of the region is reflected in the wines.

In the Vineyard

The estate is located in the small village of Rovittello and was carefully chosen for its position enclosed in an amphitheater of two different lava flows from 1809 and 1911. Covering 7 hectares, the estate was purchased from 10 different farmers to keep the vineyards together and to benefit from greater genetic variation in the vines. With respect for the viticulture traditions of the place, the vineyards are still organically maintained and worked by hand – that’s a whopping 1000+ hours of labour each year.

Still on their original rootstock, most of the vines are 70+ years old. Their are traditionally trained as bush vines around a single chestnut stake.

The vineyards used in the A Puddara are located in Biancavilla, with vines aged around 70+ years old. Biancavilla sits at 900 metres above sea level and enjoys a southerly exposition.

Biancavilla, Contrada Manzudda
The Biancavilla area at 900msl is characterized by areas composed of small volcanoes and craters from remote eras, these led to the formation of limestone caves and a terroir composed mainly of clayey particles, lapilli leftovers, sand and volcanic ash. There are small fractions of potassium, basaltic lavas and ancient tuffs. The thermic excursion is sudden and wider than the north side, it is such that it reaches 30 degrees giving, with the fine and sandy skeleton, a vertical elegance and a unique strong minerality, that if combined with the high rates to the genotypic acidity of the indigenous varieties guarantee a very high aging potential both for the Carricante grapes, Nerello mascalese and Nerello capuccio.

In the Winery

After a careful selection of the fruit in the vineyard, the grapes are triaged again on a sorting belt in the cellar. The fruit is then crushed without de-stemming and gently pressed, with separation of the musts in cold static decantation. The wine ferments in large 3500L French oak barrels and subsequently ages for 6-8 months in bottle prior to release.

The 2017 Vintage at Tenuta Fessina

The year was characterized by a mild winter until the end of December with heavy and constant snowfall on the South West side. The entire months of February and March in Biancavilla were characterized by the rigidity of the climate and by the frequent frosts, causing a slowdown until the first half of May where there was a temperature rise with highs around 30 ° C.. The conditions of scorching heat and the drought of the soils combined with the extremely intense temperature changes have caused a great concentration and a lower average production. The prolonged drought, however, has been mitigated by a fresh and slightly rainy September and October which, however, have not affected a very healthy and slightly early harvest of almost a decade. Our A’Puddara 2017 has a complex identity, which we find in advance compared to other vintage and possibly caused by the hot vintage. Certainly it does not have the marked acidity of some past Carricantes, but it compensates with intense fragrances with a marked evolution ranging from lemon thyme, to mandarin, hydrocarbons and fresh cut grass, with an iodine finish with incredible persistence. It is as if this vintage has the herbaceous and fine characteristics of a mountain wine, but which nevertheless carries with it a memory of the Ionian, savory and marine.

Where in the World is Tenuta Fessina?

I thought I’d share these maps to help you get your head around Etna and it’s place in Sicily. The first map gives you the big picture. The second highlights the general area planted on Etna, mostly South to South-East facing. The third shows most, but, not all of the Contrada (single vineyards) and their relative elevations.

Fessina is in Rovitello around Catena to the North-West of Linguaglossa.